Honor Thy Masters
by gabriel blessing
Summary: Kenichi never really had much going for him. However, there was always one way Kenichi excelled: he was lucky in his Masters. A shame that those of Ryouzanpaku weren't the first he called his Master though.
1. Chapter 1

__Honor Thy Masters

_I'm sure the first thing on a lot of readers' minds is : Why the hell isn't this a chapter of In Flight? _

_Well, I have a small thread on my forum explaining the basics but the truth of the matter is work problems and home problems have been keeping me down. I actually have twenty pages of chapter 29 finished, but when I looked back and reviewed them, well they were all crap. The stop and go nature of my writing, combined with some frustration from the real world, has led to me seemingly being unable to string together a coherent story line or even a train of thought at points. When I wrote, I figured I'd go back and brush it up, but when I reread it I realized there would be no brush big enough to fix that piece of crap._

_This story actually began as a massive free write session that was spawned by sheer frustration over my inability to write anything coherent. A good portion of it was just stress relief, and there might have been some venting contributing to the monster and violence scenes. However, once I paused in my keyboard banging, I realized I had a good thirty or forty pages hammered out, and decided, 'what the heck might as well finish it'._

_No idea if this will be just a one shot which will lay abandoned, or if it'll ever get a proper finish to it of its own, but I figured I might as well post it if for no other reason than to assure everyone that I'm not dead yet. In fact, I'm getting better! (That was said in a fake British accent, by the way)._

_Anyway, it ended up being another Bakemonogatari pseudo-fusion. I know that most Bakemonogatari fans will be frustrated with my lack of Bakemonogatari characters, but the truth is I actually like the premise of Bakemonogatari more than I actually liked the story, baring Shinobu of course. The story world just has so much potential for horror, the genre I seem to be stuck in at the moment, that whenever I'm letting my mind wander it usually ends up in 'what if' scenarios based around a character with Koyomi's back story. _

_As for History's Strongest Disciple: Kenichi, just like with Medaka Box the current story arc really caught my eye, and it ended up being used for the other half of the crossover. There's no raging reactionism towards anything in particular this time, like with Those Who Love Monsters, but HSD: Kenichi is a good series with a nice character base and a well developed plot, so it was fun to add it in._

_So, here you go. A little bit of something to prove I'm still writing, and hopefully it won't be a while before the next piece comes out either. My work problems are almost resolved, and though it looks like the home problems might take a bit longer, just having half of the teeth gnashing in my life gone is enough to make me sigh in relief._

*Story Start*

It was the specter of death that was watching Chikage which first alerted me to the possibility that the delicate, albeit violent, lifestyle that I had become accustomed to was about to be interrupted in the most brutal of ways.

It had been nearly two and a half years since that fateful day in the park when I had been eaten by a vampire and exposed to the Nightworld and what it means to know of the Kai. It had been one and a half years since that equally fateful day when I thought I had been torn free from that same world. It had been one year since I had found myself drifting into the care of Ryouzanpaku and welcomed into yet another strange realm of existence, the Underworld. I had thought that perhaps I had truly moved on from that previous portion of my life, that I might truly have escaped the notice of the Kai for good. That was why it honestly took me a second to realize the meaning of what I was looking at, and the significance of it as well.

It had been nearly a week since the battle for the Akabaneto, the Red Feather Swords, and though I had seen Chikage during the course of school quite often since then, this was the first time the cloying sweet scent of rot had been clinging to her. For a moment I wondered if it had finally happened, if Yomi had finally called upon the too young girl to dirty her hands and the girl no older than my sister had finally taken a life.

But no, even as the tiny genius' eyes sparkled with childish joy at the sundae that was being presented to her with false reluctance by Ukita I realized that it wasn't her herself which was prickling my senses.

It was the thing that was lurking outside the window, across the street, standing stock still like a statue carved of rotten ebony among the filth piled around a dumpster waiting to be picked up by the municipal garbage collectors. It was barely discernible to my seeking eyes, female in shape with long ratty hair matted across its head and over its body in irregular stripes. Its clothing was similarly disarrayed, dark and ragged and barely covering the unhealthy looking skin that occasionally flashed despite the fact that the thing wasn't moving nearly enough to justify the changing view. That was all I could make out of it, despite its relative closeness. I couldn't see clearly any of its facial features, but despite that I knew, just KNEW, that it was Chikage that it was watching.

I had thought that those instincts had long since bled out of me.

Despite the unkempt nature of the thing, not a single soul noticed it as they passed by. Pedestrians and traffic alike glided by, and despite the wide birth everyone gave the thing none of the passersby gave any indication that they had noticed what they were avoiding at an unconscious level.

'Well, crap,' I thought to myself, even as I felt something clamp down on my arm, my elbow being secured to something which was entirely too warm and too soft for my comfort. 'That can't be good.'

"Kenichi," Renka chirped, gazing up at me from where she had latched on, her eyes wide with innocent curiosity. She followed my gaze, glancing out across the street, and just like with the rest her eyes slid off the thing without a second's regard. "What are you looking at?"

'Double crap,' I updated my summation of the situation. If even Renka, a trained martial artist, couldn't take in the sight of the thing than that meant it wasn't just some crazy bag lady or an escapee from a diabolical and abusive mental institution who had just happened to fixate on the innocent looking Chikage, whom hadn't even noticed that my attention had been elsewhere.

It was a long-shot, I know, but a man has to hope, doesn't he?

"Maybe he saw some pretty little honey walk by," Takeda suggested, drawling as he did so with a grin. Somehow, despite the fact that he still had stalk of grass clenched beneath his teeth he was still making steady headway into his strawberry shortcake that he had managed to sneak into the order before Chikage had gone completely wild with sugar-lust. Or maybe the boxer had just managed to nick one of the desserts that the youngest member of Yomi hadn't been paying attention to.

"What?" I stuttered, managing to drag my attention away from the thing that was watching us for a second, so that I could rush to defend myself from the unfounded accusation. "No, that's not what I was doing at all!"

"Hmmm," Miu hummed, giving me a glance that didn't quite manage to make it to suspicious, but still firmly expressed her disapproval of the thought of me having wandering eyes.

"Now, now," Ukita chimed in, laughing as he adjusted his sunglasses, one hand casually ruffling the distracted Chikage's hair. "I'm sure Kenichi wasn't looking at anything like that!"

Despite the girl's distracted state and the playfulness of the assault, I saw the minute twitches that suddenly coursed through Chikage's tiny frame. Though the knowledge was limited to only a few members of the Shinpaku Alliance, that innocent looking fairy who was currently holding a spoon dug deep into a sundae with one hand and a fork that was trembling with enforced restraint while it hung over a piece of devil food with the other was a Disciple class fighter learning at the feet of one of the strongest and most terrible Masters that walked the face of the Earth.

I knew for a fact that just like Miu, Chikage had a natural and probably well-deserved tendency to throw anything that touched her instinctively. It had most likely been only a combination of her desire not to expose her fighting prowess combined with the knowledge that if she had attacked the judo user then she might not get more sweets out of him later which had let her hold herself back.

"Regardless of Kenichi's wandering eye," Niijima broke in, the evil alien's wide grin displaying too sharp teeth as his forked tongue darted out like a snake, "I didn't call the Shinpaku Alliance Captains here today just so we could eat sweets."

"But I thought that was exactly why you called us here," Kisara pointed out, not the least bit put out by Niijima's attempt to take control of the situation.

"Mmhmmm," Miu chimed in, turning back to the parfait she had been savoring now that the attention had been called off my so called wandering eye. It seemed that even her not so unsubstantial wrath couldn't hold her attention for long when faced with the delectable treat in front of her.

Thus was the power of sweets: distracting angry females since their original creation. I had little doubt it was a man who had invented dessert, and it was most likely in order to keep an angry girlfriend or wife from killing him.

"Why else would we put up with you?" Renka chimed in, turning to the anmitsu she was also sampling. Whenever we came out on trips like this, Renka usually did her best to be inconspicuous, but I had noted that she always seemed to order Japanese style desserts.

Niijima rolled his eyes, but subsided backwards as he did so, taking the opportunity to eat something which looked to be comprised mostly of prunes. For some reason, the choice just seemed to fit him. He always did have a habit of favoring odd things; like accordions for instance.

Normally the Viceroy of the Shinpaku Alliance would put up more of a fight in order to keep the attention of his so called minions, but I knew for a fact that in this particular case, there really wasn't anything more important to bring to table than the sweets. We had all gathered at one of our more popular meeting spots at his insistence: Matsue Lark, a cake shop and sweet parlor that somehow became the unofficial 'base away from base' for the Shinpaku Alliance. It was all part of Niijima's ongoing attempts to corrupt the impressionable Chikage so that he could further take advantage of her childish nature to gather more blackmail and dirt on the member of Yomi who was starting her third helping of pudding, a stack of empty plates and dishes already beginning to form beside her as she devoured the delicacies before her.

And so it was that with minimal fuss, the impromptu dessert sampling party continued along. It would appear to any of the other customers or servers as nothing more than a group of high school friends taking what was probably a younger sibling out for a party to celebrate some sort of special occasion.

Despite that and the disarmingly lighthearted atmosphere that had developed since Chikage had first slipped into her child mode at the sight of sweets, I had my doubts that the thing hidden in shadows was looking with the same kinds of eyes as the rest of our observers.

*Scene Break*

It was nearly an hour later before the party finally managed to break itself up. I could already imagine that I hadn't been the best of company during the entire event. Still, considering the circumstances, even if I might have been a bit of a let down to the rest of the group I still considered my distraction to be entirely justified.

The entire time we had been in there, the thing in the shadows had been watching. If that had been all, then I might have been able to devote more of my attention to the pastries presented to me. However, that hadn't been the case:

Throughout the entire party, the thing had been getting closer.

I hadn't been certain at first, seeing as I could only spare casual glances out of the corner of my eyes as the party had continued. However, soon it was impossible to ignore the fact that the thing was slowly growing closer. At first it had only been present in the alley across the street, tucked away innocuously behind the dumpster where I had first caught sight of it. However, in between an argument where Miu and Renka had barred their fangs at each other for some inscrutable reason, I realized that where once it had been behind the dumpster it was now standing in front of it. Despite the fact that it was now in the open, no longer concealed behind the dumpsters cover, it was still in the shadows, and I found that I could make out no further details of its shape besides what I had already picked out.

The next time I looked, in between a friendly argument between Takeda and Ukita over who would get the last piece of cake that had finally been settled when Kisara had just eaten it during their distraction, the thing had been in the middle of the side walk. Despite its prominent position in the middle of a busy flow of foot traffic, the space around it was once more free of pedestrians. The passersby didn't seem to notice as they pressed against themselves in order to keep from violating the things no man's land, the invisible circumference of the circle that none would unconsciously penetrate. Without regard to the social necessities, anyone passing by the thing would press themselves against each other as though they were forcing themselves into a packed subway train.

Although after they passed the thing it seemed like the realization of their closeness to their fellow travelers would return to them. I saw more than a few schoolgirls and careerwomen launch angry glares, and in a few occasions' angry slaps, at the bewildered men who happened to have been too close to them while passing the thing.

The next time I managed to look, it was to find that the thing was standing directly in the middle of traffic, somehow poised between oncoming and outgoing lanes. The vehicles that passed by did so without regard to the closeness of it for the most part, though I did see a few of the cars swerve a bit in order to avoid clipping it, maneuvers which were usually greeted by angry honks from other vehicles.

It was around that time that I realized what was marking the creature's progress: every time I looked at it it was only to be able to discern its shape, unnaturally concealed by the shadows of the building around it, the growing shade that it was apparently keeping to. It was coming from the west, whatever it was, and as the sun sank lower and lower in the sky the shade cast by the office building across the street from the café was slowly progressing, a progress which the thing was mimicking.

It was taking a great deal more skill at acting than I thought I had to conceal how unnerving I found the creatures progress. Especially when I took in fact that by the time the party was closing down the thing was right next to the window beside our table.

It had stood there, a too black shape, the feel of its malignant presence palpable even through the glass that separated us, staring at the group of teenagers happily sharing sweets, and I had been the only one to ever notice it.

Sometimes, I wondered about the choices in life I had made that led me to my current position. At least I had gotten better at making excuses. There was no way I was going to be able to eat anything when I could make that things shape out of the corner of my eye. Up close, though I couldn't make out any newer details, I could still only see what I had originally observed: rotted clothes, matted hair, and too pale skin. But more than what I could see, it was what I could smell that threw off my appetite.

Once, several years ago, Honoka had accidently unplugged the fridge before our family had gone on a week-long vacation while leaving the fridge door open as well. When we had returned the smell that had met us reminded me of the one this thing emitted: the musty smell of old blood mixed with the cloy of rot and decaying meat, the sour scent of spoiled milk and fruit, and all intermingled but not overshadowed with musky odor that generally accompanied large colonies of insects.

"Are you okay?" Miu asked me as we finally departed the store as a whole, her voice nearly lost in the general raucous of the farewells of the rest of the Shinpaku Alliance. "You look a little pale, and you barely ate a thing!"

I smiled halfheartedly at the small twinge of worry in the cheerful girl's voice. Normally the thought of the bubbly blonde showing concern for me would have made me ecstatic, the knowledge that the girl I thought so highly of paying attention to me enough to set me on cloud nine.

Right now though, I was too busy keeping an eye on the thing that had spoiled my meal as it stood stock still in the last place I had seen it, the bubble of silence around it untouched as it remained statue still. Still, the thought that Miu was worried about me was enough for me to drag my eyes to meet hers, what I hoped was a reassuring smile on my lips.

"Don't worry about it," I told her, laughing slightly as I put my hand behind my head. "I think it was just something I ate earlier."

"That's good!" Miu chirped, giving me a relieved grin as she did so. "I would hate to have to explain to the Masters if you were sick!" The thought of the response of the elite martial artists who had been training me if they discovered I had a cold was enough to make my laugh even more nervous.

Sakaki would probably just throw me into the yard with a shout of 'If you can't do it, just die!' Akisame would most likely work out an even more strenuous exercise that would take advantage of a body weakened by sickness, most likely involving a machine shaped like some kind of mouse wheel. And Ma, well, Ma would probably try to use another of his ancient Chinese medicines to heal me up with unnatural speed.

It was in the midst of my unpleasant speculation of what might await me if ever did get sick at Ryouzanpaku that I glanced back at where the thing had been and froze. It was no longer standing by the window, staring into the empty booth we had left behind.

It was standing right behind Chikage, its dark shape still as it loomed over the unaware and unprepared girl.

"Miu-san!" I yelped, my voice a bit higher pitched than I was comfortable admitting. I could make out my fellow disciple as she glanced at me with curiosity at my sudden increase in volume. Despite her concern, I kept my gaze locked on Chikage and the thing, not daring to take my eyes off it. So far it hadn't moved while I was observing it. I was praying to any god that would listen that that trait would remain true, for the sake of the girl who I had befriended.

"What is it, Kenichi-san?" Miu asked, concern lacing her voice as she did so.

"Sorry," I began, eyes still locked on the thing. Chikage had continued to walk, unaware of what was just behind her, shrouded in darkness so thick that even she couldn't make it out when it was right next to her. So far, the thing remained frozen, not getting any closer as the girl continued to walk away unaware. "But there's something I need to talk to Chikage about for a bit. Could you go on ahead?"

"Are you sure?" Miu asked, and I could hear the wariness in her voice as she did so. Despite the friendly atmosphere of the scene we had just departed from, it didn't change the fact that Chikage was a member of an organization that had tried to kill me several times so far.

"It'll be fine," I assured her, not daring to even blink as I did so, already beginning to move so that I could catch up with the departing girl. "Don't worry about it!"

"Kenichi-san," Miu began, but I ignored her, rushing to catch up with Chikage. The street was crowded, and in order to make my way through as quickly as possible I found myself relying on the training the Elder had given me, slipping through blind spot after blind spot in order to weave effortlessly through the press.

While doing so in order to cover ground I didn't even realize that I would unconsciously make use of the biggest blind spot present at the moment. It was only after I had taken the first step into the large gap in the crowd which surrounded the thing that I realized utilizing that space might not have been the best of ideas.

Whip-like, the thing which had otherwise been completely still every time I had caught sight of it, turned its head to face me. One of the arms, hanging loose at its side the entire time twitched, its fingers stretching out towards me even though the rest of the limb remained stationary. It was only a second before I was past it and back into the crowd, and it made no other move besides that. Once I was clear it made no other motion, its head still facing the direction I had been in when I had violated its circle, its fingers paused and no longer moving.

Despite the brevity of its reaction, I felt the beginnings of a cold sweat as it formed on my forehead. 'That had been stupid, Kenichi' I berated myself intensely. 'Haven't you learned to be more cautious with things like that at this point?'

"What is it?" a voice I hadn't been expecting chimed in, and I realized with a start that even while distracted by my near encounter with the thing behind me I had still unconsciously made my way to the much shorter girl whom I had decided to accompany for the sake of her own safety. I glanced down to find that Chikage, whose voice had gone flat now that the presence of sweets weren't around to distract her, was staring up at me with a flat gaze. Her Yomi mode had firmly been pressed back into place.

"Ah," I began, before realizing that when I had glanced at her I had taken my eyes off the thing which had been stalking her. Hurriedly I glanced behind me, nearly shivering as I expected the creature to once more be directly behind the two of us, wondering if this time when it came into sight it would be with hands outstretched, preparing to attack.

Instead, I discovered that it was gone. The sidewalk behind us once more bustling, the unnatural congestion which had been beleaguering it no lingering evident. My eyes darted from side to side, trying to figure out where the thing had gone to, hoping that maybe it had just decided to leave.

While it was fortunate that the thing didn't appear about to strike anymore, it was also apparent that I wasn't quite fortunate enough for it to have disappeared entirely. There, at the mouth of an alley not too far away from us but much further than it had been earlier, the thing stood. With the setting of the sun well on its way, the street was getting darker than it had been earlier. It stood at the lip of a small space between two close set buildings, its body halfway hidden behind the nearest one. Though it was getting darker now, I realized that I could still make out the exact same amount of details on it as I had earlier when it was brighter out: matted hair, rotting clothes, and pale white flashes of skin.

I also could make out Miu, much further up the street, but still present. My friend and fellow disciple was making her way back to Ryouzanpaku, but it looked like she was taking her time about it. She should be nearly twice as far away at this point, but judging from the way my eyes met hers briefly it appeared she was being deliberately slow, no doubt trying to judge whether or not she should put off returning in order to come and support me in case I needed it.

Though it was accidental, when I met my gaze I found myself giving her a brief smile. Realizing what my initial reaction was, I broadened the grin, giving her a quick nod as I did so. The look seemed to reassure her, and with one last smile she turned, and began to pick up the pace as she made her way back to the home I shared with her and the other Masters.

With one last lingering look at the thing which was still watching the two of us, I turned back to Chikage. The observant girl had followed my gaze, though only when it was on Miu. When my look turned to the thing, Chikage had turned away uninterested. It looked like she too couldn't make out the monster following her in the shadows.

"Well?" Chikage prompted me, sounding annoyed at my delay. I hesitated again, and realized how awkward this situation could get. Despite our friendly nature, the two of us were on opposite sides of a philosophical debate between two opposing schools of martial arts: her, with the Satsujin Ken, the Killing Fist philosophy which adhered to the belief of ending lives through martial arts, and me with the Katsujin Ken, the Preserving Fist philosophy that believed in preserving lives through the same means.

"Not now," I told her finally, deciding to play it safe. "Let's wait until we have a bit more privacy." It was a statement with a double meaning, though only I would probably understand that meaning at this point. Chikage would probably take it to mean that I didn't want any of the Shinpaku Alliance or Miu to hear what we were about to discuss. And I didn't.

But more than that, I was hoping that if I waited a bit longer, than maybe the thing behind us would go on its own accord.

Somehow, I doubted that would be the way it turned out. In the end, it seemed more likely that I would have to be taking this matter into my own hand. The thought chilled me briefly, a new round of cold sweat forming as I suppressed a shiver. It had been nearly a year and a half since I had performed an exorcism, and considering how the last encounter I had with creatures like that had turned out, I wasn't too certain how well I could handle a new one.

Especially considering the fact that I was now alone in such endeavors. Back in the beginning I had Oshino to teach me the ropes, and after he had left I had still had others I could rely on.

But now, there was no one: not Senjougahara, not Kanbaru, not Hanekawa, and not even Shi….

I cut the thought off harshly, nearly slapping myself so that I wouldn't think it. I would not go down that road again. I wouldn't even let myself think about it.

It just hurt too much to consider, even after a year had passed.

"And when will we be able to talk about it?" Chikage prompted after a moment's thought. She had no doubt come to the logical conclusion of me not wanting any of my other friends to hear our conversation. "I will be needing to meet my Master soon."

I paused, and I wasn't certain if the next thought that crossed my mind was either sheer genius or utter stupidity. It was quite possibly one of the most reckless and idiotic things that had ever occurred to me. I blinked, and hesitated, glancing behind me once more. During the brief conversation the two of us had continued walking, her at a brisk pace and me at a more leisurely one. Despite the ground we had covered, the thing had been keeping pace with us. It was once more half concealed by the lip of an alley, but this time I noticed that it had drawn a little bit closer than it had earlier.

Alright. I guess that settled it.

"Your Master," I began, trying my best not to seem too distracted while still keeping an eye on the thing which was trailing the two of us. "Kushinada Mikumo; she's a Miko, isn't she?" It was a bit of a long-shot, but I had met the woman twice. Admittedly, both times she had scared the crap out of me, but on both those occasions she had been dressed in priestess robes. Admittedly, they looked a bit more fetishy than the actual robes a priestess might wear, but they were in the same general ball park.

"A Miko?" Chikage repeated, sounding childishly surprised at the question. I was treated to one of the rare instances where the younger girl looked honestly unprepared, an expression that didn't quite fit into either her childish or her Yomi personas.

"Because if she is," I continued, deciding to go ahead and roll the dice on this gambit, "then I would like to hire her for something."

Sakaki would be proud. It's just the kind of reckless gamble that he liked to make whenever he took a trip to the race tracks.

*Scene Break*

It took close to two more hours before a meeting between Kushinada and myself could be made. All things considering, there were plenty of logical reasons why it would take so long for me to meet Chikage's Master. After all, Kushinada Mikumo is a member of the One-Shadow Nine-Fists, the collection of the ten most powerful practitioners of the Satsujin Ken. With such an auspicious title to her name it stood to reason that she wouldn't have time to come out and meet with a teenage boy who just happened to request to hire her.

Then again, the fact that I was that boy was probably what let the meeting be arranged in the first place. I was the Disciple of Ryouzanpaku after all, the corresponding collection of the greatest Masters who practiced the Katsujin Ken. For a dedicated member of the Life Giving Fist to admit up front that he was hoping to hire a member of the Killing Fists for a job was probably enticement enough for someone to be dispatched, even if it was for no other reason than to determine whether or not it was a trap of some kind. Even more peculiar was that it would be me doing the requesting. I had already had several pseudo-death-matches with a number of the different Disciples of their group, and had more than enough reason to be wary of them as well.

For me to not only request a meeting with one of their members, but with one of the highest ranking Masters in their organization, and one who had already threatened to kill me twice at that, must seem like a lamb dipping itself in meat jelly before walking into the lions' den.

"This way, bandaid," Chikage told me, the girl's face expressionless as she once more sank herself deep into her Yomi mode. The girl was still in her schoolgirl uniform, and had her cellphone pressed securely against her ear as she continued to lead me. It had been a while since I had seen her this tense, and it was only now that it was gone that I was able to make out just how much more relaxed the younger girl had become in my presence. Under that flat look, it seemed that I wasn't able to conceal as much as I normally did, because after a moment's pause the jujitsu user continued. "Nervous?"

"Oh, you could say that," I muttered, trying to keep the hitch out of my voice as I did so. I glanced nervously behind me, and Chikage seemed to interpret my unease in the matter which she felt was most appropriate.

"My Master has no need of an ambush," Chikage assured me, turning to face the front as she continued to lead the way. "There is no one here but us. Though if you're worried, it's not too late to back out."

Chikage's tone changed just a bit at her last statement, as though she was still holding out the hope that I would give up on this meeting. I gave her a halfhearted smile, but even as I did so it was while keeping one eye behind us.

The thing was getting closer again. For the last two hours, no matter what twisting road we took or what alley Chikage led the two of us down, it had always found a way to keep itself even with us. Originally, it had seemed content to stay half hidden, its wretched form partially concealed by the lips of alleys and the bulk of various obstacles. I had almost been able to find the time it had stood directly behind a lamp post as though the thin metal pole actually concealed it as vaguely amusing at one point.

However, in the last half hour whatever factor that had originally caused it to maintain its distance seemed to be losing its importance to the thing. Just like before it seemed to have gradually become bolder in its approach of the two of us.

When Chikage and I had taken the train for fifteen minutes, it had been present in the space between subway cars, standing directly in front of the window that let passengers see into the neighboring cars. When we had turned off a busy street to take a shortcut, it had been present, standing directly at the entrance of the alley, forcing all the other pedestrians who might have taken the same turn to unconsciously seek a different route. When the two of us had waited for a train to pass, it had been even closer behind us, standing directly in the road again.

And now, as Chikage led me up a weathered set of stone stairs and beneath the bright red Torii gates which marked the entrance of a shrine, it was here again, no more than a half dozen yards away, framed by the torii which marked the beginning of the shrine grounds.

"Thanks, Chikage-chan," I told the other girl, trying to alleviate her concern for my safety. "But I don't think backing out is a choice at this point."

It might have been once. When I had first identified the thing that had been following us it had been focused on Chikage only. If I had just sat back, ignored it, gone home with Miu and started my daily routine with my Masters, then I doubt I would ever have seen the creature again. However, I think that leniency vanished the moment I had accidently got too close to the creature while pursuing my younger friend. If the two of us were to separate at this point, I had no idea what the creature would do. It could be that my actions might have presented sufficient insult or provocation to the creature that it would abandon its stalking of the smaller girl. Then again, it might just continue its haunting of the unprepared Chikage and ignore me completely.

If I thought that the thing would come after me alone from now on, I would already have left, and done my best to weather the storm that its presence would no doubt bring on me. I've done just that before, and I had no doubt that I would inevitably have to do so again at some point. However, if there was even a chance that the creature would be continuing after the unprepared Chikage than there was no way I was going to leave her alone, not until this was finished properly.

"Then prepare yourself, bandaid," Chikage told me, apparently steeling herself to the confrontation that was about to happen. "We're here."

Even as she made her announcement, the two of us arrived at the final Torii that led to the shrine that had been our destination. The final gate was a large and grand old thing, though it looked as though it was well cared for. The bright red paint looked relatively fresh, and there was a broad shimenawa, a ritualistic braided rope, hanging below the nuki, the bottom portion of the gate. On resting on it was a small wooden plaque with the words 'Kushinada Shrine' emblazed on it, a sign that was engraved on the stone boulder resting beside it. The shrine itself had been well hidden, located on the outskirts of Tokyo amidst a small pine forest.

Even as we passed through the gate onto the shrine's grounds, traditionally known as 'God's Country' to most and was more exactly known as 'Enemy Territory' to me, I couldn't help but be disappointed that such a fine shrine was in the care of an enemy. I glanced around, for a moment unable to take in anything but the elegant simplicity of the shrine grounds.

"Do you like it, boya?" a voice cut in, and for a second I was too enraptured by the beauty of the grounds to realize just who it was that was talking.

"Yeah," I admitted, a bit of excitement in my voice. "You have such an elegant Kagura-den," I pointed at the stage normally used for Noh plays and traditional Miko dances. My mind briefly wandered to the other uses for Kagura-den, that being for marriage ceremonies, and had the stray thought of whether or not Miu would like to come here sometime with me, before I realized just who it was that was talking. "I mean," I began, hurriedly turning back to face the speaker, swallowing hard as I did so.

Standing before me was Kushinada Mikumo, the Bewitching Fist of Yami and practitioner of the Kushinada style of jujitsu. I knew, intellectually, that Kushinada was closer in age to the Elder than she was to me. The woman before me was probably pushing eighty, or even ninety years of age. Despite that, her physical features were more appropriate on a girl just graduating college, looking to be no older than her mid to late-twenties at best.

She had long, elegant black hair and was dressed in what loosely could be called a Miko's hakama and haori, though the garments had been modified in what was truly a provocative manner. The red hakama had long gaps trailing down the sides of her legs, tied loosely with red ribbons to keep it close even as it exposed long swathes of creamy white skin. Her white haori was similarly altered, loose black threads holding her sleeves off her shoulder and exposing the skin of her sides. More than that, her top was closed rather loosely in the front, open so low that her belly button could be seen peeking out from behind the white garment, and it must have been some secret feminine art which allowed her to keep her massive breasts secured so loosely within her revealing top.

She stood casually, half concealed by one of the tourou, the stone lanterns which lined the pathway from the gate to the shrine proper. The only light visible in the shrine were being produced from the candles that had been set in the tourou, and in the flickering illumination the woman before me looked more like some kind of ephemeral fairy or tempting kitsune than a brutal practitioner of a killing style of martial arts.

It actually took me a second to remember, but the way that Kushinada was half concealed was enough to jolt my memory. There were other things about that were probably equally dangerous as the Master before me.

It was only a quick look, a glance over my shoulder, but I was relieved when I discovered that the thing which had been following me hadn't closed to an uncomfortable closeness while I had been distracted. It was still present and standing in the open, but it had come no nearer. Instead, it had frozen, statue still as always, directly beneath the torii which led into the shrine proper. I had to suppress a sigh of relief that it was apparently being stymied from getting any closer.

It appeared as though this shrine was more than just a hideout for the Bewitching Fist. It looked like it was actually consecrated. It seemed that the thing was hesitating about stepping into God's Country after all.

"What a charming boy," Kushinada murmured, one hand coming up to conceal what was most likely a smile. "Not at all like that boorish Hayato."

"Ah," I began, rubbing the back of my head as I felt inexplicably embarrassed at her teasing compliment. "Thank you," I finally stuttered out. "It's a little late for offerings, but if its polite I can still make one," I offered. "What kinds of prayers are granted here?"

It was rude to simply attend a shrine without making an offering to the kami that reside there. This was a place of worship after all. It was also usually more appropriate to pray for something which was within a god's purview when attending a shrine. Asking a kami dedicated to love to help with financial troubles rarely got any results, and if I was going to make an offering I might as well make one that was within a kami's area of influence.

"Glorious death in battle," Kushinada informed me, still concealing her mouth as she did so, and I couldn't keep a small sigh from escaping as I hung my head. I really should have known. It made sense for a Satsujin Ken to worship a god of war.

"You know," I muttered, one hand coming up to massage my forehead, "there are worse ways to go I suppose." I glanced at the still amused woman dressed as a priestess. "Should I make my offering now, or wait until the grounds are open?"

"There will be time for that later," Kushinada assured me, finally stepping fully out onto the path that connected the gate to the shrine proper. It was a position meant to put herself directly before me, but I found myself unconsciously shifting so that I could keep her on my left. It might have been a bit rude, and I noticed Kushinada's smile shrink slightly in response to my actions, but if I had confronted her face on than it would have meant putting my back to the thing still lingering at the gate to the grounds. "For now though," the Bewitching Fist continued, her smile disappearing into a more stern expression. "Perhaps we should focus on the meaning behind this meeting."

"The meaning," I repeated, unconsciously glancing to my right, still trying to keep an eye on the creature at the gate. For a moment I thought that the thing was still unmoving, before another flash of long dormant instincts made me look closer. It was subtle, only a minutia of difference, but the thing was no longer as it once had been. The unaccountable flashing of its flesh beneath its rotten clothes was no long moving. Whatever illusion of movement that had been causing it to appear to shift was no longer present.

What had changed between now and only a few moments before? I glanced back to Chikage, hoping to see what had caused the deviation from the norm, only to freeze. I could no longer see Chikage at all.

Instead, all I could see was Kushinada. The ephemeral martial artist had closed the distance between the two of us in the brief second when I had looked away and was now looming over me, her face close to mine as she leaned in. It wasn't the first time I had been confronted by the visage of this martial artist as she studied me like a mildly interesting bug. Just like before, after the battle between Master Ma and Maestro Castor of the Nine Fists I froze.

It wasn't just a reaction of fear or surprise. I felt my body lock up, as though every muscle in it had been turned to ice. My first instinctive reaction was to panic, to jump back and give myself some distance. Despite the urge to move, to do anything, no order my brain sent my limbs was received and I found myself as stock still as the thing which was still at the gate. The only thing I could do was stare at the seemingly too large face of the Master glaring down at me, the scent of her sandalwood beads thick in my nose as she crowded me. It was almost enough to block out the scent of rot that had been pervading my senses since the thing had shown up.

"It's impolite to look away from a lady when she's talking, boya," Kushinada informed me, the same imperious tone of voice I was accustomed to hearing from her present. "I was surprised when a Disciple of Ryouzanpaku, of Hayato, would be so brazen as to deliberately seek out a member of the Nine Fists like this. I was even intrigued as to just why such an earnest young man as yourself might seek out his enemy. However, if you persist in wasting my time, my tolerance for this experience will quickly run out."

Just as suddenly as my paralysis occurred, it was gone, and I found myself able to move again. Despite my returned mobility, I could do nothing more than fall to my knees and gasp for breath. Kushinada stood over me, and I realized for the first time just how tall she really was. Even if she was a woman, she still towered over me even without her intimidation technique, her height maybe even higher than even Sakaki's.

It was a glaring reminder that the creature behind me wasn't the only dangerous thing in the courtyard.

"Now," Kushinada continued, apparently satisfied that she once more had my full attention. "What does one of the Katsujin Ken want with one of the Satsujin Ken? Tell me boya, are you here to beg for your life? Or do you perhaps seek the employ of one who is willing to end a life?" A small smile, an expression that seemed to express more in the ways of malice than it did amusement, made its way to her face. "Or perhaps you've come to seek instruction in Martial Arts less restricting than what you receive from your more conservative Masters?"

"Actually," I got out, still trying to regain my breath from her earlier attack. "I was just looking for a good Miko." It was the first thing that I could think to say, and immediately after the words left my mouth, I winced. That might have not been the best thing to say, considering the situation.

"A Miko?" Kushinada repeated, her eyes narrowing as she did so. "If this is meant to be a joke, than I should inform you that I have no tolerance for such mischief. Bad children who indulge in such things should be punished."

Okay, that was not a promising statement.

"No," I shook my head quickly, "it's not a joke!" I was about to go on, though I had no idea what I was going to say when a new noise interrupted me and I froze. Despite the chastisement I had just received, I found my eyes drawn irresistibly to the thing which had been following Chikage all day.

It was still standing in the same position, not even the subtle shifting which had previously disappeared present. But now, despite its frozen nature, it was beginning to show a response different than just the silent shadowing it had been doing all day.

It was growling.

At least, growling was the best way I could think to describe the sound that was being emitted from the thing. The noise was slow, low and throaty. If anything, the best way I could think to describe it was a slow clucking noise being made one broken sound at a time. Even as I identified the noise, it began to speed up. As the strange percussive noises began to gain speed, I realized that it wasn't a click or a growl.

It was a rattle: a death rattle.

When a body dies, the decomposition process begins almost immediately. A major byproduct of the process was the creation of various gasses, methane in particular. It wasn't uncommon for bodies to vent those gasses through a variety of means, and the violent expulsion was often accompanied by a number of different noises. One of the most famous was when gases escaped through the throat, the violent release often causing vocal cords tightened with rigor mortis to make clicking noises. The end result was most often a rattling noise, a sound originally made famous through a particular horror movie about a house haunted by a murdered wife.

"Boya," an annoyed voice drew my attention back to the other dangerous thing in the courtyard, and when I whipped my head back to look at Kushinada, I found myself once more paralyzed, this time mid swallow as the glare I received moments ago proved to not even be close to the full potential of what an ancient Master could produce. "It seems that you are a slow learner. Regardless of the reason you have sought me out, I think I might take a moment to instruct you on the importance of focus."

There was definite malice in her words as Kushinada began to reach out to me, one hand moving slowly towards my head, and if I wasn't already frozen mid swallow I would have gulped again. I had seen what the jujitsu Master could do once she laid her hands on someone, and I had no wish to experience it for myself.

However, before I could experience firsthand just how the upset Kushinada punished bad children, a blur of silver cut in front of me, slicing through the hand that had been closing in so ominously with my face. For a moment it appeared as though the cut was so clean that the blood hadn't had a chance to come out, and then just as though magic the hand, and the body the hand was attached to disappeared as though it were mist.

"Bunshin," I gasped, and realized that I could once more move again. My throat ached from having been paused in mid motion for so long, and I started coughing as the sore muscles of my neck protested the abuse they had been subjected too. I paused, my hazy thoughts realizing that there had been more going on than just a bunshin. My eyes darted down to the thing which had interrupted by imminent punishment, and I wasn't certain if I was surprised or not by the sight of the shuriken embedded in the stone of the walkway.

"Kenichi," the voice of my savior said, her tone flat and disinterested. "You are… late." The rustle of clothes was enough to drag my attention to the side where I located the one who had interrupted Kushinada's attack on me. Clad in a long coat over a short kimono with chain mail beneath, a young woman stood. With her long black hair set in a ponytail and delicate features, she appeared to be in her early twenties, and wouldn't have looked out of place walking to and from university courses, if it wasn't for the enormous katana that she had strapped to her back.

"Shigure-san," I gasped, still trying to get my voice back. "What are you doing here?" Kousaka Shigure, the prodigy of all bladed weapons, and the youngest Master of Ryouzanpaku was standing on one of the tourou lanterns, perched as easily as if she were standing on the ground.

"Dinner," Shigure began, before pausing as though searching through her memory for the word she had planned on saying next. "Was getting cold," she finally concluded. With a nod as though to confirm her statement to herself the swordswoman went still for a second, before she suddenly arched into the air, her sword being drawn in one quick motion and cutting through an otherwise empty space.

"Oh," as though appearing from nowhere Kushinada appeared, hovering in the air just out of reach of the sword strike for a moment before the woman dressed as a shrine maiden once more disappeared. "Is this whom you were looking for, boya?"

The words came from an entirely different place this time, and I started when I realized that they were coming from directly behind me. I glanced over my shoulder, taking in the newly reappeared Kushinada as she stood behind me. Well, where several of her stood behind me. Once more, just like before, it looked like the Master class jujitsu user was using whatever unbelievable trick that she had in her repertoire to make seemingly solid images of herself.

"So this is the level of the Katsujin Ken?" Kushinada continued, a tone of amusement in her voice. "To use the disciple to try and launch an ambush on a Master?"

"And for a Master to attack a disciple…" Shirgure responded right back, a touch of heat in her usually calm voice, "…Is that the way of the Satsujin Ken?"

"Though you concealed your presence well, I knew that you were there," Kushinada returned, and this time her voice echoed from around the courtyard, no longer coming from one place in particular. "Your name, girl: it was Kousaka Shigure, wasn't it?" Even the bunshin that had been present behind me disappeared, and I was beginning to feel like Kushinada had more in common with some kind of fantasy ninja than she did with a modern Martial Art Master. "It seems like we shall have the chance to have our rematch now."

"Agreed," Shigure muttered, reminding me that the two had already met once before, during the battle for the Red Feather Swords. For a third time, I found myself paralyzed, though this time it was a paralysis I was more familiar with as both Master class fighters unleashed their Ki, the heady force of their physical power a crushing though familiar weight on my spirit.

"Oi, bandaid," Chikage muttered, and I realized that at some point the other disciple present had made her way to stand beside me. The young girl was glaring at me, a look which seemed to go beyond the usual casual disdain she emitted to the world when she was in Yomi mode. "Is this why you wanted to meet my Master?"

"No," I shook my head frantically, one hand still massaging my throat as I desperately tried to figure out how the situation had devolved to such an extent. "It was because of…"

I froze, realizing that I had taken my attention of the real reason I had tried to get in contact with Chikage's Master. My head whipped around, once more trying to find where the thing was, and my breath caught in my throat as I located it.

"Well, now I know for certain that you're not really a Miko, Kushinada-san," I managed to get out, my voice shaky as I did so.

"Boya," Kushinada responded, annoyance present in her tone and her voice was accompanied by the sound of a blade clashing with something out of sight. "It's not charming at all to use the same joke all the time."

"Because if you were any kind of Miko at all," I continued, not responding to her own words as I lifted one shaky hand to point towards the entrance to the courtyard, "then there's no way in hell you wouldn't have noticed that by now."

"Noticed…?" Kushinada began, and then just as suddenly as it had started, the Ki that accompanied a battle between two Masters vanished. As quickly as she disappeared, the jujitsu user reappeared, standing beside her disciple as though she had always been there, her eyes narrowed as the mature woman stared towards where I was pointing. Beside her, Chikage too had followed my finger, and it seemed that even the usually unflappable Shigure had been caught unaware as she too retreated to my side. Kushinada continued, her tone sounding equal parts perplexed as it did angry. "Who on earth are you?"

At some time during the escalating confrontation between Kushinada and Shigure the death rattle it started emitting earlier had begun to escalate, a long loud noise that reminded me of the sound some sort of hellish cicada might emit. For the second time since I identified it I watched as the thing moved. Its limbs twitched as they shifted, its body swaying like a doll being poorly manipulated by some amateur puppeteer. With a dragging motion, as though it couldn't properly make use of its legs, it took a slow step, crossing the border that the torii gate marked from the outside world to the shrine and as it did so it emerged into the candlelight which illuminated the courtyard.

Finally, for the first time since I had first laid eyes on the thing someone besides me seemed at last able to perceive it. I almost felt sorry for the others who had only now managed to make out the monster that had been shadowing Chikage for a good portion of the day. When I had first seen it I hadn't been able to make out much of the details. I just knew it was there, and that whatever it was it was foul. Now though, for the first time the thing had stepped out of the shadows and with whatever art or principle which kept me from scrutinizing it earlier removed the true travesty of its nature was revealed at last

The brief shudder of terror that flit through me at the realization that whatever the thing was it had ventured freely onto the God's Country of a shrine was overshadowed by the revulsion its true appearance inspired.

It was definitely female, that much I had already been able to determine. However if the gender had ever indicated some potential for being attractive that illusion had been dispelled. Its skin was pale, not the porcelain pale of a girl that simply stayed out of the sun but the freakish whiteness of a bloodless corpse. Its flesh looked rubbery, and was set with blue varicose veins which bulged prominently across its form. More than just veins, its flesh was marred with lesions, sores, and what looked like dark gangrenous swelling. Wherever its flesh was marred the wounds were moist and foul looking, seeping pale secretions which might have been pus but could just as well be something equally disgusting.

There were places where it looked like something was moving within it, as though there were squirming things beneath her skin, and when one of those squirming things made its way to one of her open wounds the bone white of a maggot made itself known as the grub poked its way lightly out as though to test the temperature outside its host before it vanished back within to continue its borrowing feast.

Covering this putrescent body was its equally wretched garments. What I had originally thought to be simply dark clothing was revealed to in fact once have been a lighter shade, perhaps white. However, the secretions which the creature oozed from its unhealthy body had apparently long since saturated the garment, and dirt and grime had caked itself to the moisture the wounds had given the clothes. It looked like the clothes stuck to the thing at some places, hung too loose in others, was made thicker and stiffer by its decay at points, and was too thin to be repaired in others. The only part of its outfit it still had that even resembled what it once might have been was the hitaikakushi, the triangular forehead covering that was used as ceremonial burial garments in ancient times.

It was thanks to the hitaikakushi that I couldn't make out the creatures face, and for that I was grateful. Instead, all I could see was its hair. I had been able to see the matted nature of its locks even in the dark, but the full extent of the soiling was only now becoming apparent. Its hair was long and wrapped around it almost as though it was being used as a second garment to help support the other decaying and less useful dress. At places the hair glistened oily, perhaps through general unkemptness and perhaps through having been soaked in the creature's fluids. At other places it was flat and dry, the individual strands having caked together and hardened until they were plate like patches covering its body at irregular intervals.

It looked like it was a corpse that had spent the better part of a month or two buried somewhere damp and filthy. Even for me, who had been expecting something along those lines, it was a sight enough to turn my stomach. For the three others present it was something which must have come out of nowhere, a creature that had appeared without any warning and without their notice despite the fact that all three of them had been trained to be preternaturally aware of their environment.

"That smell…" Shigure noted, and I glanced to the side to see the normally unflappable Mistress of Weapons wrinkling her nose. It looked like now that the creature had been revealed completely they were able to make out all the signs of its presence, including its scent. I began to make my way to my feet, getting up from the kneeling position that Kushinada's paralysis techniques had forced me into earlier, and I managed to catch sight of Chikage perhaps unconsciously imitating the older girl's gesture as she too was beset upon by the scent of rot. Only Kushinada seemed unaffected, striding forward until her body was firmly between the thing and her disciple.

"Did you not hear me?" Kushinada demanded of the thing, standing imperious and iron in her voice as she confronted the creature. As though in response to the challenge the thing took another step, lurching as though it was about to lose balance before it righted itself, moving closer. The noise, the long ghastly rattle continued to build even louder, a crescendo that was picking up speed and force as it did so. "I said…"

Kushinada got not further in her attempt to question it as the thing's arm snapped up, all its previous clumsiness disappearing in one sharp movement. It's fingers outstretched, fingernails blackened from grave dirt of something equally disgusting, it reached towards where the four of us had perhaps unconsciously retreated when it appeared. As though the movement was a signal, its long rattle, too long for human lungs to have sustained for the same period of time, drew together until it was no longer making individual clicking noises but was instead screeching, a sound like nails on a chalkboard. Even though the rest of its face was still concealed I could make out her mouth, her teeth chipped and jagged and black with what would no doubt be a dentist's nightmare of plague and filth.

And then it moved.

I could barely make it out as it streaked forward, screeching all the while. It covered the ground between where it had been standing and where we had gathered in less time than I thought possible. Despite its increased speed, I could make out that its gait was still unnatural, its limbs jerking in odd ways as it half sprinted and half tumbled towards the four of us.

"Chikage-chan!" was all I managed to get out, and it was thanks to the hellish martial arts training I was receiving from my Masters at Ryouzanpaku that I was able to move in time, throwing myself on the smaller girl and forcing her to the side and to the ground. I didn't know what the thing wanted with her, but it looked like it was finally ready to make a move to get it. I heard Chikage 'eep', surprised at my sudden movement towards her and even as I tried to shelter her with my body as best I could I felt sudden pain blossom in my shoulder, ribs, and gut as she instinctively struck out at me. I grunted, and despite the pain held on.

If this had been a fight then I had no doubt that those attacks would have continued, but it seemed like Chikage managed to realize that I wasn't trying to attack her after the first half dozen attacks finished. Her onslaught had only lasted a second, occurring before the two of us had even hit the ground after I had tackled her, but even that amount of time I had no doubt she had done some pretty serious damage to me.

Honestly, I had thought that the pain of her strikes would be the least of my worries considering how fast the thing attacking Chikage was and how dangerous it most likely was as well. However, after I had spent a second bracing myself, covering Chikage's body with my own, and still hadn't felt any other blow hit me I dared to open my eyes to see where the thing was.

Doing so revealed that I had been mistaken about one very important element of the thing's nature: it appears that it wasn't Chikage that it had been after at all.

It had been after Kushinada instead.

I had seen Masters battle before. For all the skill and power that a Master brought to the table, the fights themselves were often somewhat uninspiring to those who didn't know what to look for. To the uninitiated a battle between Masters usually consisted of three parts: a period of the two staring at each other, a brief exchange of attacks, and then one fighter landing a blow and the other falling down. While it may seem that simple to someone not trained to fight, those who could recognize the specifics knew that something entirely different was really happening.

During the initial period of stillness, the Masters were actually having a fierce battle of hypothetical exchanges of blows. These battles, called Attack Trail Battles, were when both Masters were attempting to judge the possible combinations or attacks that the other might use. It was only once a Master determined that they had sufficient advantage to risk an actual fight that the two would begin to throw real attacks. While the punches or kicks might not seem like much, for the most part a Master's attacks were generally so strong that they could shatter concrete into dust or held some secret technique or trick that multiplied the power anywhere from a dozen to a hundredfold. And when a fight ends it was usually only after one of the Masters managed to land a secret technique or a finishing move, an attack so powerful that it would be able to overcome whatever technique or purely physical defense the other Master was relying on to protect them.

What was going on right now was nothing like a battle between Masters.

There was no period of staring, no careful measure of strength from the thing. It simply struck with clawed hands and jagged feet, its mouth still open and that shrill ear splitting screech continuing unabated all the while. It flung its arms and legs at the jujitsu Master with inhuman speed and power, still looking like it was some puppet being unskillfully manipulated. Its torso would twitch one way than the other and an arm would follow in accordance, outstretched and flopping as it did so even as it cut through the air fast enough to be audible. Whichever limb wasn't being used would simply dangle or spin without regard until it suddenly was used again.

And despite the unskilled nature of its assault, Kushinada looked like she was losing. The older woman's eyes were narrowed, and there was no sign of any of her previously displayed bunshin. Instead, it looked as though she too were relying on nothing but her physical abilities to fight this battle. A blow would be dodged by the barest of margins, and a counter attack in the shape of a fist or a kick would be launched in return. Each blow Kushinada launched hit, but none of them seemed to have any effect on the creature.

For a moment I thought that the jujitsu user was simply holding back in order to judge the threat of the creature attacking her, but when one slashing blow wasn't entirely dodged and the thing's jagged nails tore open the front of Kushinada's low cut haori I realized that the Master wasn't playing around. She was honestly being pressed by the creature's assault.

As though she too seemed to realize that she was losing, Kushinada tried to take control of the fight. I didn't even realize it was happening until one second the creature was swinging wildly, and the next there was only a blur of white and red as the jujitsu user moved. It was only afterwards when I had managed to figure out the exact sequence of movements. It was while the creature was overextended, one hand crossing its body entirely that Kushinada had grasped its wrist. In the same movement, she had stepped, a move which had swept the creature's feet out from beneath it. Then she had moved until she was standing behind it, still holding its arm with one hand as the other went to the things shoulder in what looked like a precursor to one of the more basic of jujitsu moves, an arm bar take down.

If the move would have worked then it would have left the thing pinned to the ground, its arm captured and under Kushinada's less then tender mercy. Instead, before she could finish her attack while the thing was still midair it simply turned its head to face her. The movement was accompanied by a gruesome cracking noise which was most likely its spine snapping as its head spun nearly two hundred and seventy degrees. Even as Kushinada seemed to realize that the thing had somehow positioned itself to attack mid strike, and despite the fact that the move shouldn't be physically possible, the creature stretched its broken neck, moving its jagged teeth into position to tear into the jujitsu user's arm.

I had no idea what affect that things bite would have on the other woman. I still hadn't even figured out just what the thing really was. For all I knew a bite from that thing could have some sort of curse attached to it, or a poison of some kind that could be injected. Considering just how fetid that thing's jaws looked, it could even just cause something as mundane as septic shock if the debris littering its mouth managed to make its way through Kushinada's skin. However, just as its teeth began to close in a blur of silver darted between the two and as the jaw snapped shut it was with an audible 'clang' that could be heard even over the noise of the thing as it STILL continued its shriek even with its mouth full and closed.

Shigure had joined the fight, and just in time it seemed. The weapon prodigy had appeared in a blur of lavender kimono, her sword poised to interrupt the things bite. I could make out the scene for a second as all three of the combatants seemed to hang in the air for a moment, and I could make out that despite the fact that Shigure had blocked with the sword she had carefully angled so that the back of the blade would be facing the creature.

And then the creature moved again, once more defying common sense and physics as the arm that wasn't still captured by Kushinada moved, another awful cracking noise emitting as it forced the arm behind it, either dislocating it at the shoulder or maybe just shattering its shoulder blade to get the range of motion necessary for the attack. Unprepared, Shigure only had a moment to get her arm out of the way, a kusari appearing from her voluminous sleeve of her overcoat that intercepted the full force of the creatures attack. It wasn't enough to stop it completely though, and the force of the attack tore a patch through both her coat and her kimono before the force of it sent the midair Shigure into Kushinada, sending both of them skidding away from the creature.

"Mind yourself, girl," Kushinada snapped, even as the two separated inflight before either of them landed. "There's no need for the Katsujin Ken to involve themselves in this affair."

"It already…" Shigure began, flipping once before she made it completely to the ground, her sword held in front of her in a guard position, "…interrupted our fight."

It was a bit of a vague statement, but prior experience had helped me develop a better understanding of the sword user's sometimes cryptic remarks. It looked like Shigure was actually a little upset that her fight with Kushinada had been interrupted. I still wasn't certain if the main motivation behind the sword user helping the other woman was that she just wanted to finish the fight with the creature as quick as possible so that they could resume, or if she was worried that if Kushinada was hurt that the two wouldn't be able to have a fair match.

Whatever argument that was about to spring up between the two was interrupted as the creature also began to recover itself. However, instead of getting to its feet, the thing seemed to favor a more gruesome manner of getting back to the fight. When it had managed to free itself, the momentum of its final blow had sent it spinning through the air before it finally collided with the ground, belly up. For a normal person, this position would have left their heads facing the sky as well, however with the thing's unnatural position of its neck its head looked right side up in that position from our perspective. The logical next step would have been for the person to stand and right themselves. The creature however, with its head still twisted from when it had tried to bite Kushinada, didn't seem to care much for logic.

Rather than stand up, it simply pushed itself onto all fours. When it found the position of its elbows made the stance awkward, it made another spastic motion, twin pops echoing as its arms wrenched themselves, twisting gruesomely in their sockets as they spun around until they could be positioned more comfortably beneath it. The flesh of the arms was pulled tight, and the lesions and sores began to ooze more fiercely as the pressure on the muscles of its arms squeezed the noxious fluids out of the body like water being wrung from a dish cloth.

The sight of the inhuman position, head backwards and limbs crooked, was so wrong, so unnatural, that it looked to be enough to interrupt even the argument between the two proud Masters. Without another word, both of the dangerous women seemed to come to some unspoken agreement, each circling away from each other as they put space between them so that they would have room to maneuver. The creature didn't seem to care, and still shrieking it simply charged its way back towards Kushinada, the movements of its twisted limbs and flopping neck like some kind of insect or crab as it scuttled back to battle.

"Bandaid," I heard Chikage his, and glanced down ready to comfort the no doubt scared child. Instead, I found that the younger girl showed none of the terror which would no doubt be appropriate for kid when confronted by something that seemed willing to break its own neck in order to sink its teeth into an enemy. Instead, I found the younger disciple with wide and intense eyes as she took in the sight before her. "What is that thing, and how do we fight it?"

I had to suppress a sigh as I was once again confronted by the difference between a member of Yami and myself. Would it be that hard to be even a little bit scared?

Gods know I was.

"I don't know yet," I told her, and then, somewhat hypocritically I suppose, did the exact same thing the younger girl was doing: watched my Master and tried to figure out just how I could contribute to the battle in some meaningful way.

It looked like the change in height that the creature had effectively imposed on itself was doing nothing to help Kushinada in terms of fighting it. Jujitsu had always been a martial art that focused on grabbing, throwing, and then pinning the enemy. I don't know why it was that the Yomi member wasn't using any of her more esoteric arts, but it looked like Kushinada was instead focusing solely on using her physical capabilities to combat the creature. I don't know how she could bring herself to do so as even the sight of the thing's leprous skin was enough to send a shiver down my spine. Still, in order to effectively put herself on the same height, Kushinada had sank into seiza position, the way of sitting position customarily used by warriors in order to be able to fight even when they were seated.

If the situation was any less hazardous, I think I might be awed at just how well the Master used her new position to her advantage. I had used seiza myself before, when I had been forced to fight Li Raichi, one of the first members of Yomi I had encountered once I had truly begun to set foot into the Underworld of Martial Arts.

The display Kushinada was putting on was enough to make my own efforts back then resemble those of a crippled child.

The thing was attacking much like an animal would at this point. It would hunch back on its bent legs, swiping its clawed hands in irregular patterns, attacks which would change direction seemingly without warning all the while gnashing its teeth and biting at the woman it was attacking. It was still screeching even as it opened and shut its mouth, causing the already ear splitting noise to warble and echo as it was muffled and altered with the movement of its jaws.

In response Kushinada was fighting purely on the defensive, her arms flickering as they moved nearly too fast to be seen. She seemed to have learned her lesson the first time and was no longer even attempting to throw or pin the thing. Instead she would brush against its wrist or elbow as necessary, forcing its already wild attacks to go even more out of control. When the thing would press forward, trying to use its weight to overwhelm her she would simply shift. I couldn't think of any other way to describe it. One second the thing would be bearing down on Kushinada, and then in less time than it took to blink she would simply be behind it, the thing faltering and whirling as it single mindedly continued its attempt to kill the jujitsu user.

Throughout it all Shigure was darting like a demented dragonfly as she did her best to try and stop the creature. It would seem like a simple thing for a woman carrying a sword nearly as large as she was to stop somebody who was crawling around on the ground like that, but the truth was far from that. Despite the creature's fearsome attack and hideous appearance, Shigure was a user of the Katsujin Ken. No matter how hard she struck the thing, she steadfastly refused to use the edge of her sword. However, no matter how hard the weapon user struck the thing, no matter how much likely the landed blow would have crippled a normal human, the thing gave less attention to the sword user that a normal person would give a bothersome insect flitting about around them.

"Should we attack?" Chikage asked me, sparing a moment to glance away from the fight unfolding before us, and I realized that for whatever the reason the more experienced and better trained disciple was looking to me for guidance in the face of an unexpected situation. If the scene wasn't so tense I might have been happy for that.

"As it stands now we would either just get in the way, or be completely ineffective," I told her, my voice tense as I gave my best summation of what our efforts would add to the battle. "Even Shigure-san isn't able to do anything to it, and it looks like your Master is having just as tough a time. Better to hold back and wait for an opening." Chikage nodded, already turning back to regard the fight as she pulled away from where I had still been covering her from my earlier attempt at protecting her. "Besides…" I began, before pausing realizing that finishing the thought I was about to say out loud might not be the best idea.

"Besides?" Chikage snapped, her attention once more riveted on me as it appeared as though I might have something to add. Knowing that I would have to say what I was thinking, I sighed, and prepared myself for the worst.

"Besides," I mumbled putting a sheepish hand to the back of my head. "It's a woman. I don't fight women."

The look that Chikage gave me was probably the most incredulous thing I had ever seen as I refused to meet her eyes. I knew that the thing most likely wasn't an actual woman, and that even if it had at one point it probably didn't count as one now. But just like Shigure refused to use the edge of her blade, I too had my convictions, even in a situation like this.

My own feminism aside, it didn't look like there was much I would be able to contribute at this point anyway. It was taking two Masters, one of which who could rival even the Elder and the other who was using a plethora of weapons to augment herself, but it looked like a stalemate had evolved at some point during the fight. Though the two Martial Artists couldn't seem to beat the thing, it looked like the thing itself was also unable to finish the battle either.

Still, if there was one thing I learned over the course of my own duels it was that stalemates like this couldn't last forever. The two Masters were only human after all, and not even they could maintain this kind of pace forever. The thing on the other hand didn't seem to have the same kinds of limitations.

I wasn't certain if Kushinada was just a second too slow at one point or if the creature had just managed to get a lucky strike, but after nearly a minute of this strange ground battle the thing finally managed to land more than just a glancing hit. I could barely hear the sound of Kushinada's grunt as its clawed nails raked across her mostly exposed chest, a shallow blow at best but still a blow. The thick sandalwood necklace that Kushinada wore exploded as they acted as an impromptu armor to guard her throat and collar, sending individual beads of wood ricocheting across the courtyard amidst the hollow clack of wood on stone as they bounced and scattered.

There was a moment of shock as intense as though I had accidently fingered an electric socket as I took in the change in the pace of the battle, already convinced that this would be the point where things stopped going in the favor of the Masters. However, instead of pressing the attack the thing paused, and for the first time since it started its onslaught it seemed to hesitate, its heading whipping back and forth as though it were trying to follow the path of the beads as they scattered. Even its screeching seemed to slow, the ear piercing noise lowering in tone for moment though it didn't stop completely.

Both Kushinada and Shigure seemed to catch onto this change immediately. As skilled as the two were there was no way that they would miss such a change in the pace of the fight. Kushinada used it to fall back, the leap away from the thing taking her halfway across the courtyard as though she were a leaf being tossed by an unfelt breeze. She landed on her feet again, abandoning her seated position even as she stood ready, one hand coming up to delicately trace a thin red line across the top of her breasts which the destroyed necklace hadn't been able to protect her from. Kushinada's expression was calm, though the ferocity of the glare she was unleashing on the creature as it started to scrabble across the courtyard, was so intense it made me shiver.

Shigure's response on the other hand seemed to be less inclined towards taking further defensive maneuvers and more in the area of trying to go on the offense instead. Even as the creature began to swat at the fallen beads, each strike smashing a different orb into splinters, the sword user had sunk down into a position I'd seen her use twice before. With her sword behind her in a ready position, I could feel as the Ki she emitted seemed to grow until it was almost a palpable presence on my skin.

"Shinto Gourenzan!" For a moment the Ki was so powerful that I could feel it like a force on the back of my eyes as I watched. The Shinto Gourenzan, the Heart And Blade As One strike, was considered to be the absolute pinnacle of weapon using. It was when a wielder was so in tune with their weapon that rather than the weapon being like a part of their body it was as though their body instead became a part of the weapon. With speed the likes of which I still couldn't fully comprehend, Shigure moved like a flash of silver. The light of the candles reflecting off her sword as she moved gave the illusion of luminescent roads being carved in the air itself as her sword struck the thing relentlessly, seemingly from all sides at once.

For the first time since the fight began the things screech broke, cut off with a high pitched choking noise like the way old records would sometimes skip where the vinyl had been scratched. It froze, no longer continuing its bizarre game of chase with the still settling beads. Unfortunately, that was the only reaction the thing made. When Shigure had used the same move against her human opponents the attack was usually accompanied by vast quantities of shredded clothes and the targets immediate collapse. Even using the flat of the blade like she usually did, the Shinto Gourenzan still was a move which combined immense power and uncountable strikes against the target.

After a tense moment where I found myself desperately praying that the thing was just being dramatic and was about to go down at any second, the things clothes began to shift slightly. For a second I thought that it might be the precursor to the creatures stained and ratty garments coming apart at the seams from the strike, though the thought of seeing more of the wretched corpse-like body was enough to turn my stomach. However when the thing continued to remain thankfully covered, I realized that it wasn't the creature's clothing that was moving.

It was its hair.

Rising from where it had remained wrapped around the creatures body strands of the long dirty black hair were beginning to uncoil themselves. Whenever the places where the hair had caked solid began to move they were accompanied by 'cracking' noises as the noxious dried fluids shattered and began to work themselves free of their knots. The freed strands began to twine themselves, forming oily and twisted braids that swayed in a nonexistent breeze around the still crouching body of the creature. It was such an unnatural and yet hypnotic sight that despite the fact that the battle hadn't yet ended, no one in the clearing seemed to be able to look away from the twitching strands.

Slowly at first and then with mounting speed, the thing began to rattle again. It was the only warning the creature delivered before it resumed its attack.

With the cracking noise of a whip being snapped in the air, several of the newly created appendages launched themselves, black blurs in the dark night as they closed in on the unprepared Shigure. Despite being confronted by something which should be impossible, the weapons prodigy managed to react in time. Her sword swung, flashing as it moved to parry the first few braids, and though she managed to block them for some reason the incredibly sharp blade that she wielded didn't seem to do any damage to the hair that should have been easily cut.

Even though she managed to defend against the first few knots, there were more close on the heels of the first assault. Using some of the bizarre agility I had seen her utilize in the past, Shigure somehow managed to force herself into some kind of demented game of midair keep away. Each block seemed to provide the purchase she needed to maneuver as she tried to retreat in the face of the creature's unconventional assault. However, even as the thing's rattle began to once more build in speed and intensity, for the first time since it began its mindless attack on Kushinada it seemed to finally be paying attention to something besides its original target.

It scuttled along the ground with the same crablike gait that it had been utilizing for most of the battle, though with the addition of its hair to the battle it looked as though it was beginning to utilize some form of strategy as well. Rather than charge in headlong like it had been earlier, it instead continued to crawl so that the space between it and Shigure remained unchanged, even as the swordswoman tried to separate and get some space. It was still rattling, the noise building slightly than subsiding again at random intervals, reminding me vaguely of the shaking of train tracks in the distance. It looked like even if Shigure's attack hadn't dealt any real damage to it, the Shinto Gourenzen had still managed to make it cautious.

That was a good news/ bad news kind of thing. The good news was that the creature apparently could be hurt, if it was taking the time to try and be cautious in its assault.

The bad news was that apparently it would take something a lot more powerful than the ultimate expression of a weapon user's ability with their blade.

All it took was one misstep for the desperately blocking Shigure, and then the creature would have her in its hairy grasp. I held my breath, hoping that the misstep wouldn't come, that my Master would manage to escape safely.

I released that breath in a pained 'whoosh' when she didn't.

I don't know if it was intentional or not, but between one dodge and another, one of the oily of the tresses of the thing's hair managed to circle Shigure's sword just above the tsuba but before the cutting edge of the blade itself. When the plait of hair tightened, it jerked Shigure's skillful defense just enough for the next strand to land on her body, tightening across her upper arm. As though I was watching some wicked game of dominos, more and more strands began to find their way around Shigure, whose struggles were becoming more and more desperate. First her arm, then her ankle, then her waist, more and more parts of her body were being constricted by the creature's relentless attacks.

She had time for one desperate move, releasing her father's sword and using the newly freed hand to dart into her coat, pulling free a brace of shuriken, and then a new braid found even that hand, wrapping around it at the wrist. Even as the thing's rattle began to build at its apparent conquest, the strand wrapped around the sword flicked, sending the elegant weapon flying through the air as though it was nothing more than trash to be discarded. Instead, the creature's attentions instead seemed fixated on the now captured Master. Its growl escalated even more as it somehow found the leverage to keep Shigure suspended midair, despite the physical improbability of it being able to support holding up a body with nothing but its hair without some sort of bracing.

I managed to make out a harsh 'grunt' as the bands securing my Master began to tighten, oily streaks left behind as the plaits of hair coiled around her, before Kushinada made her presence known. Without any sort of grace, apparently having decided to forego Martial Arts entirely for some reason, Kushinada appeared next to the creature, foot reared back for one still framed moment, before the Jujitsu user simply punted the creature square in the small of its back. With the creature's current warped position, it meant that Kushinada had kicked it from below, and the creature let out a surprised sounding warble as it was lifted off the ground entirely.

Even if it wasn't some fancy technique like I had been expecting, it looked like Kushinada's pure physical strength seemed to definitely be in the upper end of the Master class range. The thing was sent flying, its limbs flapping comically as flailed about. It looked like the blow was enough to even cause the creature to forget about torturing my Master where it had her bound if the way Shigure began to suck in air was any indication. Still, the bonds about my Master were still connected to the thing, and as it went flying Shigure was forced to trail after as its hair was once more pulled taught.

I didn't pay any attention to just where the thing was going. Instead, I had finally found the chance for me to contribute to this battle, no matter how small my actions might be.

"Bandaid!" Chikage yelped as I charged, scrabbling on all fours to get as much traction as I could. Behind me, I heard a horrific crashing noise as the creature's flight was arrested by something, probably a tree or a wall. There was a second noise a moment after, this one accompanied by the sound of someone gasping, and I knew that Shigure's flight too had come to an unfortunate end. That didn't matter though, not right now.

One of my Masters was in trouble. I'd already seen the thing in action, and I knew well how my own skills would compare to it: I would be slaughtered in a heartbeat. Even with its ungainly movements and shambling motions it still moved with enough speed and power to push two Master class fighters to their limits. Add in the hair, and the most I could do directly against that thing is die a humiliating death.

But there was something I could do, and the knowledge sang through me, empowering me, forcing me to move at the upper limits of my ability. I could help my Master, I could give her back the means to fight against the thing.

And so, my eyes locked on the flying blade which had been wrenched from Shigure's grip, and knowing that the act could shave seconds off my time, rather than wait until Shigure's father's sword landed I threw myself at it, jumping higher and faster than most humans could dream of moving. Even before it hit the ground, I felt my arms close around the sword, embracing it to my chest as I spun and managed to regain my footing so that I could land in a crouched position with the blade securely in my possession.

"Shigure-san!" I shouted, spinning as fast as I could towards the last sounds I heard of the battle behind me. I had only taken my eyes away from it for moments, but already the battle had evolved into something which was completely different from what it was before.

Somehow, the fight had moved away from the grounds of the shrine proper and into the pine trees which surrounded the holy place. The creature's voice had risen again, the dreadful clicking noise once more blurring into that ear splitting screeching sound which had flavored the battle so far. The thing was attacking Kushinada with all its might again, flung limbs and twisted body shattering wood with every motion of its rotting frame.

Kushinada was once more showing a defense against its actions far beyond anything I could muster at this point. Every time it seemed like a blow would connect, it was instead met with a branch of tree, an unearthed root, a suddenly swaying trunk. It was almost as though Kushinada was warping the world around her in order to counter the creature's assault. The two of them raced with unnatural speed and grace through the small copse of pine which was meant only to serve as decoration to the shrine in general.

And as the two raced, Shigure-san was forced to follow after them.

The creature's hair was still securely locked around the weapons user. Her neck, her shoulders, her elbows, her thighs, her knees, her ankles, around all her joints and in various other places oily or stiff plaits of hair were firmly coiled. My Master was being pulled behind the ongoing fight like a puppy on a leash being dragged after an overeager child trying to walk their new pet. Despite what should be an immobilizing grasp on my Master, Shigure was still fighting.

It was inspiring to watch. Every twitch of the woman's frame pulled forth some knew weapon, a weapon which was used to try and cut the bound woman free. A roll of shuriken was produced, the sharp edges cutting and biting into the locks holding Shigure's thighs, only for a whip like braid to strike them away. Even as the freed thigh was re-secured by new hair, the brief moment of freedom was enough for Shigure to flex, and seemingly from nowhere a kodachi appeared, the weapon used to strike at the strands securing a shoulder. When that was struck away it was only for a kusari to spring forth, the sickle biting into yet another of the imprisoning hairs.

And even though it was inspiring, it was a doomed effort. Perhaps that was what made it so inspiring in the first place.

"Shigure-san," I shouted again, digging my feet hard as I pushed myself into a charge, the weight of my Master's sword unexpectedly heavy in my arms as I fumbled with it. I was only passingly familiar with weapons in general, most of my training over how to counter them barehanded, but I was going to have to make do as best I could. I knew, intellectually that what I was about to do was probably stupid. In fact, it was definitely more along the lines of 'very stupid' rather than just 'stupid'.

Well, no one ever accused me of being terribly smart in the first place.

It was hard to keep track of the flashing bodies as the fight continued to weave in and out of the copse of firs, but despite the speed of the battle Kushinada seemed to be intent on keeping the battle among the trees. I knew better than to try and approach the creature itself. If even two Masters couldn't take it on than a Disciple like myself would be so outclassed it wouldn't be funny. However, I didn't need to attack it directly in order to contribute to the fight.

Instead, I shifted my grip on Shigure's sword, grasping it around the hilt as I fumbled to raise it into a striking position without hitting any of the branches that were encircling me or tripping at the haste with which I was moving. The stink of rot grew thicker around me as I got closer to the fight, nearly overpowering me as I finally got within range.

Hoping that I this would work, I attacked not the creature itself but the hair which was binding my Master so securely. I wasn't certain if I would be able to cut all the winding trails flowing from the creature's scalp, but even if I only severed a few of them that would hopefully be enough for Shigure to take care of the rest.

It was a do or die assault. Either this would work and Shigure would be able to rejoin the fight properly armed and unencumbered, or I would fail and most likely either die or join Shigure in her braided bondage.

"Hyah!" I shouted, swinging the enormous sword as best I could, aiming for a space between the creature and Shigure where the snakelike locks were thickest.

I missed completely.

Well, not exactly a miss. The moment I had begun my attack the creature had twisted, launching itself away from both Shigure and Kushinada and back out into the courtyard proper. Rather than drag Shigure after it the creature's hair had writhed in a frenzy so intense the space it occupied looked almost liquid from the movement as it had unwound itself from where it was holding my Master's body. I had struck as fast as I could but it hadn't been fast enough as between one second and the next what had once been a space thick with tangled strands blurred like spilled ink and then there was nothing there anymore.

I blinked, completely surprised at the creature's retreat, feeling slightly foolish at having launched such a fierce war cry only to have hit nothing at all. Shigure seemed equally surprised at her sudden freedom as she dropped to the ground, landing flat on her butt with her legs sprawled out in front of her. Even Kushinada appeared a bit unprepared as once more a lull settled into the combat.

The creature settled itself in the courtyard, its twisted arms and bent knees flexing as it lowered and raised its body, its hair whipping about it as it did so. I could make out Chikage behind it, slightly concealed where she was standing behind a tourou, and for a second I worried that I had been mistaken earlier and that the thing really was going to attack the younger girl. However, the creature made no further hostile action, even its shriek slowly dying back down to a fierce rattle. It snapped its jaws a few times, clawing at the stone of the courtyard with its rotten nails, but made no other move.

"Why does it hesitate?" I heard Kushinada ask, her voice low as the Jujitsu user studied the thing intently. I spared a glance at her, checking to see how she was doing now that she wasn't constantly blurring about. There was a thin sheen of sweat on the older woman, and her long dark hair was sticking to her forehead and shoulders where it made contact with her skin. Her top had sprouted a few more rips around it, tears which were doing very little to assist in preserving her modesty. Despite the tense atmosphere I couldn't quite prevent a blush as I caught sight of more of her chest than should be appropriate. Kushinada didn't seem to even notice her exposure, and remained standing as tall and as regal as she normally did.

"Kenichi…" a new voice caused me to glance away from the Jujitsu user, and I saw that Shigure had managed to right herself. She was standing next to me, giving me her customary blank glance though she held one hand out in front of her. "…my sword," she continued after a second and I realized I was still holding on to her father's blade, the weapon slumping off to the side as I forgot to even try to hold it in a guard position.

Just like Kushinada, Shigure hadn't escaped combat untouched so far. Her coat and kimono were both torn in a nasty looking stretch across her ribs, though the gleam of chainmail which peaked out revealed that the weapon user had managed to avoid taking any actual damage. There were dark lines forming across some of Shigure's exposed skin where the plaits of hair had managed to squeeze tight enough to bruise, and there were sheens of glistening fluid that marked other parts where the soaked hair had rubbed against her flesh and clothes.

"Ah!" I gulped, and quickly did my best to offer the weapon back to the Master. "Sorry, Shigure-san," I apologized, hoping that she wouldn't be offended by my clumsy attempt to use her sword.

"It's….fine," Shigure assured me, taking the blade back by its hilt with far more grace present even in that simple maneuver than I could ever accomplish in the same move. Far more of her attention was focused on the creature than it was on me, and I also turned my gaze towards the thing once more.

"After such a fierce assault, why does it pause?" Kushinada murmured, her presence austere from where she stood nearby.

"Don't…know," Shigure shrugged, not looking too concerned at trying to find the reason for the things hesitation. The kunai which had appeared in the weapons user's left hand and was being spun by the ring of the handle betrayed her apparent unconcern, as did the way her eyes never left where the creature was still restlessly pawing at the ground.

"Actually," I began, my voice hesitant. "I think I might have an idea…"

I actually heard a cracking noise as both the Masters turned their attention to me so fast that Kushinada's neck actually popped as though it were a knuckle being stretched. That definitely had not been what either of them had been expecting to hear, especially not from a boy who was just a Disciple class Martial Artist.

Still, I had been involved with these kinds of situations for a lot longer than I have been having death matches with other Disciples from shadowy organizations or confronting delinquent gangs. I might never have come across a creature exactly like this one before, but I had enough experience to make a few guesses. I'd been studying the thing for a few hours now as it followed Chikage, and it had done a few odd things during its fight to help provide a few more hints as to its true nature.

However, regardless of just what it was, there had been one particular character trait that had remained constant during all of my interactions with it.

"Well, boya?" Kushinada prompted, her tone at best mildly curious at my unexpected contribution. "Though if you're lying about such a thing for the sake of appearances, I should warn you that such actions are hardly charming at all."

The unspoken threat in the last part of her comments made me grimace, but I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Nothing was going to change for the better if this fight kept on in the same vein. Kushinada was already starting to show signs of being tired, and Shigure had also already been captured once. None of their attacks were having any effect on the thing. If something wasn't done quickly, then things could go very bad, very quickly.

Once, I had jumped off a cliff head first into shark infested waters and then punched one of the sharks square in the face. Afterwards, well, I had told myself that that had to have been the stupidest thing I'd ever done. Another time I once climbed up the back of a killer enemy Martial Artist assassin while he was engaged in a battle with Apachai in order to rescue a bird that was sitting on top of the assassin's head. After that had happened, I had included that particular instance in my head as one the most brain dead idiotic action I could ever possible do.

It looks like I was going to have to update my 'Kenichi's Stupidest Moments List' to include tonight's plan as well.

"Whatever you do," I began, opening my eyes so I could focus them on the creature that was beginning to seem restless as it flopped raggedly in place, "don't make any sudden moves."

And without any other warning, I stepped out of the protection of the small copse, and began to approach the creature slowly; arms down and palms open in show of peace.

"Kenichi!" I heard Shigure snap, and there was a quick rustle of movement behind me that I didn't dare turn to face. The creature seemed to notice the movement as well and hunched down, its rattle beginning to once more increase in speed as it prepared itself. With a slightly quicker step, I placed myself more directly in front of it, feeling a bead of sweat form on my forehead as I tried to catch its attention directly.

I had to force myself to keep breathing as my ploy seemed to work. The creature's hitaikakushi shifted as its head flopped on its broken neck, and the stained formerly white garment seemed to focus on me as though indicating where its eyes were looking. The creature's rattle began to slow again, and its restless movements seemed to pause as it focused its attention directly on me. For a second I was afraid that I had drastically misread the situation, and that the thing was about to unleash that same unnatural speed against me. I would probably survive the initial assault, but there was no way I would come out of it nearly as well as the two Masters had so far.

Instead of flying at me with ragged claws and jagged teeth the creature instead shifted slightly, seeming to sink in on itself as it did so. Its hair, which had continued to twine and snake through the air as it had stood still began to slow its serpentine undulations as well. Its rattle began to slow even more than it had earlier, subsiding to the point where it was once more a low pitch rumbling noise rather than a high pitched screeching.

If I thought I could have gotten away with it, I would have sagged to the ground in relief. So far, the only time the creature had reacted besides when it wasn't attacking had been directly in relation to my presence. When it had been trailing Chikage, the moment I had joined up with the other Disciple it had backed away from the girl even though it continued to follow the two of us. That might have just been coincidence, but again only moments ago when I had joined the combat, rather than treat me like a target as it had with Shigure the thing had instead retreated. It had even released its captive as it did so.

If that had been all than I might have chalked it up to coincidence, but there had been one other time when the creature had reacted to me: when I had violated its bubble of solitude by accident. At the time the thing had definitely reacted specifically to me, turning to look at me and starting to stretch out to me. There was no other impetuous that would have made it move as it had beside myself.

That meant that the thing definitely noticed me, and not like it did Shigure or Kushinada. Kushinada was almost certainly the thing's original target, and it had only started reacting to Shigure when the weapon user had proved herself dangerous enough to pay attention to. However, whenever it had reacted to the two it had only been with violence, that loud rattle or unearthly scream punctuating its hateful notice.

For me, it had made no such noise. Maybe I was just reaching for something that wasn't there, but if vocalizations seemed to punctuate the creature's aggression, than maybe, just maybe, to me it wasn't hostile.

I continued my slow approach towards the thing, hoping that just getting near it would be enough. Twice in the past it had fled my approach, putting as much distance between itself and I as it could spare. My advance was me betting that the thing might do so again.

It was a bet I looked to be losing. No matter how close I got to the thing, it didn't move from the spot where it had planted itself. Despite how nervous that made me it looked like my approach was having some kind of effect on the thing. The closer I got to it, the slower and lower its rattle became. Its hair too was starting to calm, whole strands of it beginning to fall limply upon its rotten frame, others recoiling around its body slowly. Still in its twisted position, it definitely was lowering itself closer to the ground, a movement that almost resembled the way a dog might cringe from a threatening and abusive owner.

I could hear some rustling behind me, though it was nowhere near as loud as it had been when I first started this gambit. It looked like the two Masters had also realized that whatever I was doing it seemed to be having an effect on the creature. I could make out Chikage as well from where the girl was still crouched behind one of the stone lanterns. The younger girl was staring at me with wide incredulous eyes, and was desperately waving one of her arms as though to signal me to get away. However, when Chikage's eyes darted past me, she suddenly froze, and in a move so fast it almost made me doubt I had ever seen her original panic the girl was once more composed, the eyes of a killer being displayed.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, I had no more space to advance. The thing was directly in front of me, only a few feet away from where I was standing. Its hair was once more limp and knotted around her in places, and the rattle had died away until it was nothing than a pathetic mewling noise, strange throaty sounds that sounded more like a person who had the wind knocked out of them trying to gasp than like the noise a corpse might make. With the way it was laying on the ground now it looked nothing like the horrific murderous beast it had been earlier and more as though it was just a sad fragile corpse that had washed up out of a sewage line.

Well. Now what? I added the fact that I hadn't planned what I would do if the thing didn't flee to the list of reasons why this was the stupidest thing I'd ever done. The list was getting quite long at this point.

It was dead quiet in the shrine now, the only noise the thing's strange panting. A few sounds of the nearby city could be made out, the growling of cars as they passed and the rumble of a train as made its way down the tracks, as well as the soft hum of electricity as it flowed through nearby wires. It was the quiet of the eye of the storm. Even if I had managed to calm the thing down, it was still here. Moreover, there was no way of knowing how long this new stalemate would last either. I doubted I would be able to convince Kushinada to flee from this enemy, and even if I did it might just hunt her down at a later time. I thought it more likely that the two Masters behind me might instead try to launch a new assault on the thing, or that whatever reasons the creature wouldn't attack me might expire.

Well, I guess if all else fails, sometimes talking might resolve things. Funny how I used to think that talking before violence was the correct order of things.

"What is it you want?" I spoke to thing, my voice cracking with nervous tension as I did so. For a moment there was no response besides the low 'uhngh' of the creature's groans.

Then without any warning, not even one its customary twitches from its torso, the creature's arm shot out, still twisted from the strange position it had assumed when it had descended to all fours, and latched onto my ankle with a grip like iron.

If I didn't have other things on my mind, I might have been concerned by the increase in the sounds of scuffling behind me. I couldn't look to be sure, but if I were to hazard a guess I'd say the sounds were a result of Shigure trying to interfere by coming to the aid of her cute little disciple, and Kushinada making sure that whatever it was that I was doing that was working wouldn't be interrupted. Honestly, I wasn't certain how well my luck would hold if Shigure were to come out here, sword-a-flashing as she did, so in a strange turn of events I was actually thankful to a member of the Satsujin Ken for attacking one of my Masters. The gratitude left a bitter taste in my mouth.

Regardless of the interference of the creature there were still two Martial Arts Masters behind me that weren't very fond of each other. Just because it had been temporarily put on hold didn't change the fact that there was a potential death match brewing between the two women fighters, and considering Kushinada's true power I was honestly scared for Shigure's safety if the two were to fight seriously.

However, I was more concerned with not crapping myself as a rotting corpse began to crawl its way up my legs.

Despite the thing's iron grip, it wasn't a painful hold at all. It was cold, and I could feel moisture seeping through my pant leg and sock, but considering the way the creature's claws had torn through clothes and flesh earlier the fact that I wasn't actually being injured was the only thing that kept me from screaming like a little girl. It was a close thing though, especially when its other arm flopped, coming to rest with a clawing hold a little higher on the same leg, digging into the cloth of my pants without cutting through. As though it were pulling itself out of a pit of tar the creature continued its dragging motion, its legs scrabbling slightly as it began to push itself closer to me.

When its hair began to unwind from around its body once more, I officially decided I needed a whole new list to put this experience on. 'Stupid' was apparently far, far too tame to describe the sheer lunatic idiocy of this plan. 'Walk up to it and hope it runs'? What the hell had I been thinking!

After the creature grabbed me with its other hand, the first one released and a new tremor of its body caused it to raise even higher, its grip resting above my knee this time. It pressed itself with its legs, pushing its torso and backwards head against my shins, and I could feel the spasmodic tremors of its body as it forced its hand even higher, climbing up my body one ice cold grip after the next. Its hair, still a strange dichotomy of glistening oils and dry matting began to envelop me like some kind of noxious cloud. Though the strands did not form into those whip like plaits from earlier, nor did they grasp me tightly like they had with Shigure, I could feel the individual hairs as they brushed against me, almost tickling at times as they caressed me like demented feathers.

My breath came in short gasps as I could feel its hands make their way to level of my chest, its flopping head banging almost painfully against my hip bone, its claw like toenails making an audible scratching noise as they pushed against the courtyard stone for grips. I felt terror, cold and sharp stabbing through me, and I almost cursed Shigure for having taught me how to deal with fear so effectively. If I could just descend into blind panic, succumb to the horror coursing through me, than I wouldn't have to deal with the feel of the thing against me, of the way its flesh seemed to press at irregular patches as the maggots moving beneath its skin made themselves known to me. Instead, I found myself fighting my animal like instinct to flee or pass out, and instead I focused everything on what I was going to do next.

So far, the best I could come up with was hold still and hope it goes away. Even if it was touching me, it still hadn't made a single hostile move. It was holding, but without damaging. It was encircling me, but not trapping me. The strength in its corpselike limbs could snap me like a twig, and yet I was still unbroken.

Its hair was all around me, a clotted mass which seemed far too voluminous for what should be attached to its head. Its arms had reached my shoulders, encircling around me so that it could press its hands against my cheeks as it held itself against me. Its hands were wrong, the thumbs and fingers in positions they shouldn't be in due to the twisted position of its arms. They were clammy as they pressed against me, trapping my head, forcing me to look down.

I can face to face with the creature, less than a half dozen inches separating my eyes form the foul hitaikakaushi which covered the thing's features. The previously white cloth was even more stained and dirty this close, and the foul stench of decaying matter which emerged from the gash that was the creature's mouth was even more eye watering when I was this near. Here I could feel the air the creature exhaled as it moaned piteously against my cheek.

The creature hung off of me, for several moments once it finished climbing me as though I were a land mass it was simply going over. Its head twitched and rolled minutely, and its hair looked like a current of roiling oil around us. It almost seemed that once the creature had finished ascending me it had promptly forgotten just why it was it needed to violate my personal space so badly. My body was screaming in impatience, wanting to do anything to get the thing away from me, to get somewhere that didn't smell rotten or have unnatural things present. But I couldn't move. The thing had me gripped like a vice, its hair a constant barrier between me and escape to somewhere safer.

Finally, after what felt like hours but was probably less than a minute, desperate to get the thing off of me and away, I asked it in a wavering voice, "What do you want from me?"

It was apparently the wrong thing to say as a spasm traveled down the thing's entire frame, its shaking obvious to me due to our proximity. It gave one last long moan, just barely touched with its death rattle, than the grip it had on my face tightened, and it jerked me hard, dragging my head down towards its jagged maw. Too late, I began to struggle against it as it pulled me in to its chipped teeth.

Oh god, I was going to die. Again. But unlike the first two times, I doubted that I was going to escape without having my flesh rent apart. This thing was going to bite into me, it was going to tear out my throat, and I had been the one stupid enough to give it the chance, and I had to do something, anything, I had to escape and get away….

Despite my desperate struggle, I couldn't escape as its mouth closed in on me. However, instead of the anticipated pain of the thing beginning to eat me alive, its mouth instead fastened onto mine, its cracked and rotting lips pressing on to my own dry and nervous ones.

My eyes widened in a look which would probably have been ridiculous if the situation had been any less disgusting. I could taste it, the creature's rotten flesh, and feel the things beneath its skin moving against my face where my skin pressed against its hitaikakushi. I opened my mouth to scream, and that was a mistake as I felt something enter my mouth, something which probed me clumsily, and I realized that it was the thing's tongue. My teeth clattered against its, and I felt its rotting and decayed fangs chip as the force of its clumsy assault on me crashed our teeth against each other's.

My mind went white as it shut down, as just what was happening to me finally proved enough to erase my higher brain functions. I was doing all I could not to think about what was going on, about what was pressing against me and where it was doing the pressing.

I think, all things considered, I might have preferred it if the thing had just taken a bite out of me.

The creature's assault on me lasted only for a few seconds, seconds I desperately wished I could unmake and never remember, and then it jerked away forcefully. Its hair, snapped away from me, and its arms jerked off so fast that I could feel my skin heat up from the friction of their removal. They found me again a second later, though this time they rested against my chest.

The thing made a noise different from any it had made so far. Instead of the deathly rattle, or unearthly shriek, or even the piteous moaning, the noise it made sounded almost recognizable as a human voice. In fact, it sounded remarkably like the thing was saying something along the lines of, 'Kya!'

And then it pushed me. The sheer force behind the blow was so unexpected that it drove the wind out of me and lifted me clear off the ground. I was still trying to figure out what was going on, trying to get my mind to reboot from having shut down in order to preserve itself earlier, and thus was unable to do anything to arrest my flight as I rocketed towards the copse of trees I had emerged from earlier. I might have seriously hurt myself by running into one of those pine trunks, but instead something much softer collided with me, and I realized that the face I was staring up at dazedly was that of Shigure. It seems that my Master had managed to intercept my flying body before my trip came to an unpleasant ending.

I was barely able to make out as the creature began to shake, still standing where the two of us had been seconds earlier. Its hair was whipping about in a frenzy, its arms spasmodically wrapping around itself, its nails clawing at its own flesh and dirtied clothes. For a second it continued to stand there.

And then it was moving again, the same unnatural speed with which it was attacking with earlier. It launched itself, apparently unbalancing as it did so and collapsing to the ground even as it traveled along the path it had been describing. Not seeming to notice its descent to four limbs again it continued to scrabble, assuming that insect like movement until it managed to regain its footing on its legs again. It was moving so fast that it was a blur of soiled white clothes and glistening black hair.

However, instead of attacking the thing was heading towards the gate of the shrine. In seconds it had passed beneath the boundary of God's Country and was back into the city proper. It's long echoing cry that it had begun before throwing me away hung in the air for a few moments, and then even that was gone as though the night had swallowed the noise whole.

The silence that reigned on the courtyard that had been a battlefield only moments ago seemed almost surreal in my ears. I could still hear the thing's piercing screech echoing in my mind. The fact that the thing had run off seemed almost an impossibility, one which I found my mind lingering on almost desperately. If I was thinking about the thing's flight, than I wasn't thinking about what it had been doing to me right before it had ran.

"Bandaid!" a voice was shouting in my ear, and I felt something tug at my shirt. It was enough to make me start, and I realized belatedly that the voice that had been calling for me had been calling for a bit now. I struggled to bring my focus back to the here and now, and when I managed to do so it was to find myself surrounded by the other three participants in the battle.

"Chikage-chan?" I asked, and I realized that I sounded dazed even to myself. "What is it?"

"I said, 'Is it gone now?'" the young member of Yomi demanded, her face locked into her expressionless battle mode. Chikage looked like she was going to say something else, but she was casually brushed aside by Shigure. The swordswoman was leaning over me, and I realized that I had been propped into a sitting position against the trunk of one of the trees that my Master had saved me from impacting with earlier when the thing had flung me.

"Kenichi…alright?" Shigure asked, her expression her usual placid mask of disinterest even as her voice was tinged with concern. "That thing didn't hurt you?"

"Huh?" I grunted, focusing on my Master slowly. "No," I finally shook my head, thoughts still wandering without regard to where I wanted to focus them. "I'm…" I couldn't quite bring myself to use the word 'fine' not after what had just happened, so I finally settled on, "…not dead."

"What happened, boya?" This time it was Kushinada who demanded my attention. The stern older woman had once more regained her poise, standing as though the large red gash across her exposed chest was something not even worth deigning with attention. Come to think of it, Shigure too was crouched over me without regard to the exposure that the damage done to her chainmail was revealing. Was this some kind of trait of all Masters? A complete disregard for modesty? Sakaki tended to lose his shirt a lot too, come to think of it…

"Boya," Kushinada snapped, and I realized that my mind had been wandering again. "I believed I mentioned before that it was impolite to ignore a lady when she's speaking."

"Oh, yeah," I nodded, remembering her saying something to that affect before. "Sorry," I added, my voice somewhat fuzzy. "What was it you were saying, Kushinada-san?"

"I said," Kushinada's eyes narrowed, though this time she refrained from accompanying her correction of my behavior with threats of imminent physical violence. "What happened when that thing caught hold of you? Your confrontation was obscured by that beast's hair."

"Oh…" I blinked, not sure of just what had happened there as well. Still, the way the creature had behaved vaguely reminded me of something I had experienced before. I think Renka had done something almost identical once…

"I think," I began, trailing off slightly before continuing in voice which betrayed my uncertainty. "I think that it kissed me, than got embarrassed and ran away."

Dead silence reigned after my tentative proclamation. Finally, it was Shigure who managed to make a response to my theory.

"What?"

"By the way," I continued, and I could feel one of my eyes twitch slightly. "Do you have any mouthwash, Kushinada-san? I think I swallowed a maggot." My eye twitched again. "At least, I hope it was just a maggot. Actually, do you mind if I use your restroom? I think I'm about to throw up."

*Scene Break*

"Welcome," I began, "to the Nightworld."

It had been about an hour since the final, somewhat anti-climactic yet somehow still hideously scarring ending of the confrontation in the courtyard. The hour had passed mostly in a blur for me, what with the repetitive cycle of vomiting and brushing my teeth with the tooth brush that Chikage had generously gifted me with. I think I might have used an entire roll of toothpaste, and yet the taste of the thing's mouth against mine was still lingering.

The lingering foulness in my mouth was probably entirely in my head at this point, but if brushing my teeth until my gums bled was what it took for me to get over the experience, than I would gladly scrub until there was nothing left but nubs in my mouth.

Unfortunately, my own personal crisis aside, there were entirely too many unanswered questions for the rest of the group of witnesses to this particular unfortunate encounter for me to be able to properly curl up in a corner and cry, and thus rather than finding something to distract myself from what just happened to me I was instead finding myself seated on a rather comfortable cushion in the center of a tatami room in the center of the Kushinada shrine. Arrayed around me was a rather intimidating gathering of Martial Artists who were all, even Chikage, probably skilled enough to kick my ass.

And they all wanted answers as to just what the hell had just happened.

"Nightworld?" Chikage was first to speak up into the silence my proclamation had brought. The smaller girl was also seated like I was, seiza style on a cushion. The four of us had sketched out a rough square in the middle of the central room of the shrine. It had all the makings of a potentially tense scene: Shigure and I were kneeling side by side and directly facing Kushinada and Chikage. If the situation were different, it would have all the makings of a soon-to-be confrontation between the Katsujin Ken and the Satsujin Ken.

Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, it looked like all the potential hostility was being currently directed at me in the form of nerve-wracking impatience as the three very dangerous women looked to me for an explanation as to what the hell had just happened earlier.

"The Nightworld," I repeated, my eyes slightly unfocused as they rested on the tatami mat directly in front of my knees. "The world of the Kai: spirits, demons, monsters, and gods."

"The Kai…" Shigure repeated, her voice monotonous as she did so. Despite her tone though she was definitely looking at me, her flat gaze almost unnerving with its intensity.

"You did mention that you were searching for the services of a Miko," Kushinada chimed in, taking a sip of tea as she did so. I don't know if there was some secret meaning to it or whether or not Kushinada was just being polite for politeness sake but the Satsujin Ken had instructed her Disciple to serve tea while this conversation was going on. Chikage had proven to be rather skilled at basic tea ceremony movements so far, though the presentation was a far cry from the full formal ceremony. "Is that what that thing was? A spirit? Perhaps an onryou?"

"A Kai, yes," I nodded to her question, before Chikage put a cup of tea in front of me as well. "But an onryou?" The onryou were spirits of vengeance, people who had died with great rage or hatred in them, and were able to return from the next life in order to have their revenge on the ones who had wronged them. Kushinada was a killer, and it wouldn't be a surprise if there was an angry ghost or two after her. However…

"An onryou that would enter God's Country? Or attack head on? Onryou will attack, but generally only their target's friends and family. They prefer to drive their victims mad themselves." I shook my head firmly. "I only have a good guess at what that creature was, but I'm almost positive that it wasn't a simple Onryou."

I took a sip of it and nearly grimaced when the flavor hit me. "Delicious," I remarked, the traditional response to presented tea, though what I was drinking was a far cry from the usual tea ceremony fair.

Traditionally served tea was supposed to be very bitter, yet somehow Chikage had found a way to sweeten the brew to more suit her taste. It was nearly like drinking sugar water. Despite that I continued to drink it, hoping that the sweetness would be enough to wash the imagined taste which still lingered in my mouth.

Chikage seemed oddly happy as I continued to sip the tea she had prepared, though it was hard to tell through her customarily blank facial expressions. Judging from the way Shigure and Kushinada both continued to sip their own tea without any indication that they found the flavor strange I got the impression that I was the only one whose tea Chikage had flavored like this. It was a strangely touching gesture from the sweet loving little girl.

"You seem quite certain of that, boya," Kushinada commented. "I'm curious as to just how you came to know of that beast. You seemed did seem forewarned about its attack."

"Kenichi wouldn't have anything to do… with something like that," Shigure interjected, her flat gaze turning to glare at Kushinada. I realized belatedly that Kushinada had been implying that I had in some way been responsible for the creature's assault, and I hastily shook my head.

"No," I assured the very scary woman giving me hostile looks, both hands coming up as though to block the accusations physically. "I only knew about it ahead of time because it had been following Chikage-chan since school let out."

"Eh?" Chikage yelped, a nervous look appearing on her face as I revealed just how long that thing had been around her without her ever even knowing. The stalking of her Disciple didn't seem to give much pause to Kushinada, though the older woman did glance briefly at her charge before returning her attention back to me.

"And when you discovered the danger my Disciple was in, you decided to accompany her until you could ascertain my ability to deal with the spirit?" Kushinada asked, though it sounded like a rhetorical question in my ears. When I nodded in response, a brief smile flickered across the Jujitsu user's expression. "A Katsujin Ken to the core."

The announcement seemed oddly complimentary from one who steadfastly walked the path of a killer herself.

"Thank you," I nodded, wondering if she actually had perhaps meant it as a compliment rather than with her usual distaste for my philosophy of Martial Arts. "You seem to be taking this rather well," I continued, hoping I wasn't overstretching my bounds with my next statement. "Most take a little longer to accept the fact that the Kai exist, but you don't seem to be having that kind of trouble. If you don't mind me asking, just why is that?"

"There was no way that thing was human," Kushinada declared, sounding absolutely certain of her statement.

"Because the Kushinada style… was useless," Shigure chimed in, and from the glare Kushinada shot at the younger Master it seemed the weapon user had managed to hit the nail right on the head. "The Kushinada style… is all skill, and no power," Shigure continued. "It uses ki feints to confuse the enemy, and make them see things. That thing… was not affected by any of her ki strikes."

"Oh," I blinked, surprised at the insight that Shigure was offering on Kushinada's fighting style. "That would make sense," I added, nodding too myself.

I had seen Kushinada fight a few times, and each time I had noticed the way her opponents would always seem to move on their own. When the jujitsu user had thrown Diego the Laughing Fist from the boat after his defeat it had been almost as if Diego had been jumping himself, despite him being unconscious. The same had happened with the defeated weapon users when we had been guarding the Red Feather Swords as well. If her usual means of fighting weren't working on the creature, than it would make sense why Kushinada had been only using physical skills throughout the entire fight.

"Regardless," Kushinada continued, brushing aside the ineffectiveness of her style on the Kai somewhat brusquely. It seemed that the older Master might be a little unhappy with the fact that her favored style had been less than effective in the fight. "I am still curious as to precisely what that beast was. Boya, you mentioned that you had some idea as to that creature's nature."

"Ah," I began, before trailing of, my eyes focused once more on the tatami in front of me as I gathered my thoughts. "I think I might," I finally admitted. "But first, I have to ask: Kushinada-san, have you been in Izumo Province recently?"

"Yes…." Kushinada acknowledged, sounding surprised by my guess of where she had been. "Why does that have anything to do with this?"

"And why you were there, you killed someone? While wearing your usual uniform?" I continued, and though Kushinada's eyes narrowed at my interrogation, she nodded briefly to my questions. I took a deep breath, and then continued on. "In that case, I think that I know what that thing was."

"Well?" Kushinada prompted, sounding impatient as I continued to hesistate.

"I think you were just attacked by a Yomotsu-Shikome," I told her, my tone dead serious as I did so.

"Yomotsu… Shikome?" Shigure repeated, and I could see the confusion on her and Chikage's face. Kushinada on the other hand, responded to my declaration by sitting upright, her back ramrod straight as she apparently understood just what I was implying.

"The Yomotsu-Shikome, called just the Shikome sometimes, are the divine handmaidens of the goddess Izanami-sama," I explained, my voice low as I did so. "They are called 'The Wretched Women of Yomi' and are the personifications of the pollution of death."

I settled a little, shifting my feet to a more comfortable position as I did so, taking a quick sip of my sweet tea before continuing. "According to legend, when Izanami-no-Mikoto-sama died in childbirth, her husband Izanagi-no-Mikoto-sama went down to the Yomi, the underworld, in order to try and bring her back to life. However, while she was dead Izanami had eaten of the food of the land of the dead, and had begun to decay and rot. When Izanagi saw what had happened to his wife, he fled.

"Angered by his spurning of her because of her new body, Izanami sent her handmaidens, the Shikome, to chase him and kill him so that he would live in Yomi with her forever. Izanagi managed to distract the Shikome by throwing his headdress behind him, transforming it into grapes which distracted the Shikome long enough for him to escape and block the exit of Yomi with a large boulder so that the Shikome would not be able to chase him.

"Afterwards, still enraged by his betrayal, Izanami swore that from that day forward she would kill one hundred people each day. In order to counter her oath, Izanagi promised to help bring forth one hundred and fifty people in order to preserve the population." I finished my brief summary of the ancient legend, and then couldn't quite suppress a shudder that went through my frame. "You know," I added somewhat hollowly. "I always kind of felt that Izanagi might have been overreacting when he ran away screaming from his dead wife. Now though, now I have a new appreciation for the man's circumstances."

If Izanami had been anything like the Shikome that had kissed me earlier, I would have ran away just as fast as Izanagi had.

"And you think that that creature was one of the Shikome?" Kushinada asked, her expression intense as she studied me carefully after ignoring my personal addition to the legend. I nodded, my own expression becoming serious again.

"It certainly looked like a creature which personifies the pollution of death," I pointed out. "And when you were fighting and it broke your beads it was easily distracted in the same way. Heck," I shuddered again, my shoulders rising slightly as though to help ward off my imaginary chills, "it got distracted by me as well for that matter."

"Certainly, it seems as though the creature might be one of these Shikome," Kushinada commented, her eyes narrowed as she took in my argument for the things identity. "However, what does this have to do with where I have been, or what I was doing there?"

"Because Izumo is the geographic location of hell," I told her. "It's the land where the entrance of Yomi lies. I think I can guess as to what happened. You were probably on an assignment from Yami, and happened to stray within sight of Izanami or one of her minions. Both Izanami and the Shikome are jealous goddesses by nature. If they had seen you dressed as a Miko and looking," I hesitated before continuing on in a rush, "well, looking young and beautiful then that would have been enough on its own to make them envious. Add on to that and you were probably killing people at the same time, one of the duties that Izanami and her Shikome are responsible for, then their jealousy would have been added on to the fact that it would seem like you were challenging them."

"Young and beautiful?" Kushinada repeated, a brief hint of a smile forming as I flushed in response to her comment. "My, my. How charming indeed." It was probably a good sign that Kushinada was apparently enough at ease with my presence to tease me, seeing as it decreased the likelihood of her deciding to kill me later on. "Still," she continued, the smile slipping away as she returned to the previous topic. "While your argument holds a great deal of merit, there is another matter which I am curious about." The look she turned on me was intense, as though she was weighing me with her gaze. "Just why was it that the Shikome was apparently so enraptured by you, boya?"

I suppressed a grimace at her phrasing. I really didn't like contemplating just what about me it was that was apparently enough to inspire amorous intent in a glorified walking corpse. Finally, with a hesitant shrug, I answered.

"If I had to guess," I began slowly, not liking what I was about to admit. "I would have to say it's because I've already died." I paused, and then corrected myself. "Twice, actually."

"Died?" Chikage chimed in, her surprise at my admitted double demise enough to cause her to speak up, despite the presence of her Master. Chikage seemed to collect herself, and then continued. "Tirawit Koukin?"

"Yeah, that's one," I grimaced again, though this one was a bit angrier than it was disgusted. Tirawit, the Muay Tai using member of Yomi had once stopped my heart. He had done so with the intent to plant the seeds of fear within me, to make me hesitate when faced with battle again. He had been intending to force me to retire from the world of Martial Arts, the Underworld, by making me incapable of going into battle again.

It was thanks to the Master next to me, Shigure, and her insane training trip into the middle of a trap against nearly a two dozen other weapon wielding Masters trying to kill us that I had managed to recover from the spiritual wound Tirawit had given me, though sometimes I wondered if maybe the cure was worse than the poison.

"And training," Shigure concluded, nodding slowly as she did so. "We had thought… that Kenichi didn't remember that," she added slowly.

"Wait, what?" I turned to look at Shigure with confusion. "I was talking about before, when I first entered the Nightworld." Shigure blinked, seeming surprised, and then looked away quickly, coughing slightly. My eyes widened in incredulity. "Wait, you mean I died again? And in TRAINING of all things?"

Shigure coughed again, and seemed particularly interested in something that was on the far wall. With a groan I sank my head into my hands, a wash of despair flooding through me.

"I knew it," I muttered, somehow not able to be surprised by this revelation. "I knew that the training would kill me someday. I always thought it was too insane. And here it is: proof that I was always right."

"Goodness," Kushinada chimed in, once more sounding far too amused by my troubles. "It seems you have a surplus of experience in a matter which most only have to endure once." I groaned again at the rather cutting remark. She was right too. Generally people only died once in their lives. For most, like Kushinada, the experience is put off for many decades before they have to go through it. And here I was, barely seventeen, and I've already experienced three times what most only have to go through once. "Nonetheless, you mentioned that your experience in those matters was what prompted the Shikome to be attracted to you?"

"Yeah, that's the best guess I have," I admitted, head still in my palms as I sighed. "That or the way that I died the first time might have something to do with it as well."

Truthfully, I think the death itself might have only had a factor in the things actions. The way I died the first time, and the state that I had found myself in afterwards was probably a bigger factor in why an undead goddess would find me so irresistible. After all, though I might have technically returned to a nearly human state I still wasn't really a human anymore. I had been killed by a vampire, after all, and had become one myself immediately afterwards. There wasn't a word for what I was now, but the best way to describe me would either be as a vampire infinitely close to being a human, or a human that was just barely a vampire.

Either way vampires, just like the Shikome, were undead things. No wonder a handmaiden of hell would find me somewhat easy on the eyes. After being dead for two years I was one of the best preserved corpses in the world at the moment.

"How did you die… the first time, Kenichi?" Shigure asked, and I could make out her glancing at me from the corner of her eyes as she did so.

"The first time I died was when I entered the Nightworld," I answered pretending to misunderstand her question, and with one last sigh I pulled my head from my hands, shelving my righteous despair over the fact that I had effectively been killed once by my own Masters during a time of peace. "And that brings me back to the next important thing I have to tell you all."

"Important thing?" Kushinada repeated, prompting me to continue as she took a sip of her tea, one eyebrow raised as though to invite me to continued.

"Today you all just met a Kai for the first time," I reminded them. "Now, you can never escape them again."

"And what does that mean, boya?" Kushinada bristled slightly, apparently taking my comment as threatening. I shook my head, dismissing her concern.

"I mean that just like the Underworld, the Nightworld is a different thing entirely." I took a sip of my too sweat tea, and prepared to explain it all to the waiting group of women. "For most people, they only live in the normal world. They go to school or work, they deal with normal issues, they rarely if ever have to face things which are beyond their expectations. You all are lucky in a way: you are all already experienced with the Underworld, the world of Martial Arts. It's a world where fights to the death happen in dark alleys, and where strength of arms is important. You're used to there being a secret society with different rules from the normal ones. You're used to knowing that there are other things out there, things which seem to defy what is physically possible.

"The Nightworld is very similar in a way to that. In other ways, it's very different as well.

"The only qualification for entering the Nightworld is to have an encounter with the Kai. It doesn't matter what kind of Kai you meet, just that you survive the encounter. Once you have though, you can't ever escape the presence of the Kai, not completely."

"And what do you mean by that, boya?" Kushinada demanded, her voice stern. "And what precisely are these things, the 'Kai'?"

"The Kai is just the way to refer to the Oddities," I explained. "It's a generalization for any kind of spiritual or magical creature. There are so many different types of them that it's impossible to call them by any other term without excluding some of them. In a way, it's like Martial Arts," I tried to think of a way to explain just what the Kai were in a way that this rather selective group of people would understand.

"Martial Arts is just a blanket term used to describe any form of ritualized combat. Even if they're completely different, all the different forms like Jujitsu, Muay Tai, or Kalarippayattu are called Martial arts in general," I continued. "That's the same way it is with the Kai. Even if one Kai is a ghost or a spirit and the other is a god or a demon, they're all considered to be of the Kai. And just like there are dozens of different types of styles of the same martial arts, like the difference between the Kushinada School of Jujitsu and the Akisame Aikijujitsu School, each of the different types of Kai have variations as well." I paused, trying to read the mood of my audience. "Does that make sense?"

"Indeed," Kushinada nodded slowly. "Just as today we have encountered a Shikome, the Shikome is only one type of god, after all. There are others whom are also gods, yet not Shikome." It was actually something of a relief that the older woman was so intelligent and experienced. It made explaining the situation to them that much easier all around. "You mentioned something else which caught my attention, boya," the Jujitsu user continued, still studying me closely. "What was it you meant by not being able to escape the Kai ever again?"

I nodded, having expected the question. This was actually the main topic I really wanted to cover in the first place in this conversation. "I meant that once you've been touched by the Kai, you've been forever marked by them.

"Most people," I continued, already knowing that I would need to explain better for this group, "never come across the Kai at all. They go through their lives never once knowing that some of the legends and stories they heard throughout their lives are actually real. However, sometimes a person will come across one, like we did tonight. Even if they survived the encounter, regardless of if it was only a one in a million chance that they met the first Kai, afterwards the chances of them meeting another Kai are no longer one in a million. Instead, they are almost guaranteed to meet the Kai again."

"And what precisely do you mean by that, boya?" Kushinada prompted, the rest of the room paying just as much attention as she was at this point. Chikage was directing a look at me that was different from any of the ones I had come across before. Her eyes were wide, and focused with an intensity that surpassed even the one she wore when she was in combat. It took me a moment to realize that this was the look she must wear when she was learning at the foot of her Master: it was the look Chikage gave when she was learning something which she deemed to be important. Shigure too was watching me closely, her eyes lidded and her frame still, the look she gave only when she was in combat preparing her next move.

"Nobody knows precisely why," I admitted. "Maybe it's because the Kai can smell their own scent on a person, or maybe it's just that a person's karma has forever been tainted once they meet one. Whatever the reason, once a person has met a Kai, they will continually meet more afterwards. It might not be the next day, or the next month, or even the next year, but they will eventually meet another. Sometimes it's the same one they met in the first place, and sometimes it's the same breed though it's a different individual Kai. Sometimes it's something completely different from what they have encountered before. Whatever the case," I gave each of the ladies paying attention to my lecture a direct look, making sure to catch each of their eyes in turn, "it will be up to you to prepare yourselves and be ready."

"And how are we to do that?" Kushinada asked, not showing any sign of finding it annoying to continue to prompt me as she had. Instead, she was giving me a look very much like the one Chikage was directing at me. It occurred to me that for all her age and experience, this was a woman who was not afraid to acknowledge when there was an area she was not fully informed about, nor at all ashamed to seek correction in that area when she identified it.

Even if she was a Katsujin Ken, it occurred to me that Chikage was lucky to have found a Master like Kushinada. However, it looked like I would have to be a disappointment as a teacher now.

"I have no idea," I admitted, though it wasn't with any shame myself. "There's no way of knowing just what kind of Kai will appear next, or what the Kai will want when it does. There's no cure-all preparation which will protect you if they are malicious, nor way to safeguard yourself if they're just being mischievous, or way to stop them if they're trying to be benevolent." I shrugged, somewhat apologetically as all three of my audience seemed unsatisfied by the limit of my wisdom.

"That is a disappointing answer, boya," Kushinada made a stern expression as she chastised me. I gave another apologetic shrug in response, but remained firm in my position.

"I'm sorry to hear that, but there really is no way that I know of to truly prepare for the Kai," I reaffirmed. "Even if it's not what you want to hear, it would be worse if I were to try and give some advice and have it turn out to be the wrong thing the next time you encounter one of the Kai."

"Even if it is a disappointing answer, at least it is an honest one," Kushinada allowed, and though she didn't look happy about my response she at least seemed to appreciate the truthfulness behind it. "Then if I were to ask you how to prepare myself in the case of the Shikome returning, would you be able to give a more specific answer?"

"I would say that you should find an exorcist," I advised her, moving to take one last sip of my tea before realizing that the cup was empty. "Even if it's uncommon, there are some out there that are very good at their jobs."

My answer did not seem to satisfy Kushinada in the slightest. Her eyes narrowed, as she gave me another of those piercing looks which made me hope that I wasn't about to be killed off hand. "I have come across many so called exorcists and priests in my time," she told me sternly, "and there were very few which I considered to be anything more than charlatans and liars."

"Most are," I admitted with a nod, remembering the trouble that Senjougahara had gone through trying to find someone who could genuinely help with the blessing of a Crab of Burden, the god which had taken her weight away from her in order to relieve her of the pain of her memories.

"And tell me, boya," Kushinada continued, eyes still narrowed as I admitted that her chances of finding a good exorcist weren't that good. "Just how long have you yourself been a member of this so called 'Nightworld'?"

"It's been nearly two and a half years now, I think," I admitted. I think I could already guess where this line of questioning was going. Beside me, I heard Shigure shift slightly, though I didn't take my eyes of Kushinada.

"And during that time, how many of the Kai have you come across?" Kushinada continued to press me for information.

"About…" I trailed off, and had to briefly tick off on my fingers as I tried to recall the exact number of Kai I had come across. "Well, there was only about a dozen different types, but some of those were multiple encounters," I admitted. "And one of those was very common, so if I were to keep that one out I'd say probably two or three dozen encounters."

"Even if you are lying about the number of the Kai you have come across, I know for certain that you have at least one encounter with a monster that you managed to overcome," Kushinada pointed out. "Which is at least one more experience which I can be assured of over any other priest or exorcist I might try to employ. So tell me, boya…" she paused, and then corrected herself, "…Shirahama-kun: why should I seek to find another exorcist when there is one right in front of me whom has already proven reliable?"

For a few moments I was honestly stunned by Kushinada's question. Not only had she deigned to use my actual name, with an honorific nonetheless, but she also in the same breath expressed genuine confidence in my abilities when it came to dealing with the Kai while simultaneously implying that she was seeking to employ me herself. This was a Martial Arts Master probably just as old and experienced as the Elder that for all appearances was admitting that a boy probably only a fifth of her age at best could in some way be capable of performing a feat that she herself was not certain she could. And more than that, this was a member of the Satsujin Ken who was deliberately looking for help from a Katsujin Ken as well.

I think if the situation was anything else besides what it currently was, this might have been enough to cause one of the fuses in my head to explode.

"I'm not an exorcist," I found myself hesitantly explaining, as the sheer incredulity of the situation seemed enough to cause me not to dismiss the request out of hand. "There are those who specialize in killing the Kai, and some of them are very good at it. I'm more a negotiator than anything else, someone who prefers to find ways to ward off the Kai, or appease them as necessary."

"Hmph," Kushinada grunted, a feminine sound despite its coarseness. It sounded as though my response amused her despite the fact that it probably wasn't the exact answer she was hoping for. "A Katsujin Ken even in this field? No wonder that boorish Hayato is so fond of you." Despite her amusement, Kushinada's expression remained firm. "Regardless, Shirahama-kun, the question remains: how would you prepare for another encounter with the Shikome?"

Wow. She really was serious about this. Even though I still wasn't certain whether or not the woman in front of me would someday either kill me or give the order to her disciple to do so, I found myself taking a deep breath and preparing to add yet another addition to my 'Kenichi's Stupidest Moments' list.

"Alright," I agreed to the consultation. It gave me a strange feeling of vertigo to realize that once more I would be setting foot into the Nightworld, and again taking up the mantle of negotiator with the Kai. However, I had learned my lessons the hard way once before. If I was going to do this, then I was going to do it right.

"First of all," I began slowly, not sure how else to breech this topic but knowing it had to be done, "…we need to discuss payment."

If anything, the subject of money seemed to amuse Kushinada even more than my honesty had earlier. "Oh my," she murmured, sounding as though she found my apparent greed to be something delightful. "And here I thought that as a Katsujin Ken you would help me out of the kindness of your heart."

"It has nothing to do with Katsujin Ken or Satsujin Ken," I defended myself, and I realized that my voice might be growing a bit too stern for the situation. Despite that, I still found myself addressing the woman who could kill me with probably little more than a look as though I was scolding her. "And it has nothing to do with the money either." I paused, and grimaced. "Well, very little to do with the money anyway."

Never underestimate the financial difficulties of Ryouzanpaku.

"It has to do with equality," I continued, recovering from my brief slip of the tongue. "In the Nightworld, debts are important, and promises have power. So far, I haven't done anything that would put anyone here in my debt, but if I give you the consultation you want, than that would leave you owing me a substantial recompense later on."

"Recompense?" Kushinada repeated, her amusement slipping away and the attentive look she had been giving me earlier returning as she once more began to take my words seriously. "In what way?"

"Like I said, debts are important in the Nightworld," I explained, slipping into a somewhat businesslike manner as I continued to explain why I would need money from the other woman before I told her what she wanted to know. "If I were to simply tell you what you wanted to know, then I would be putting you in my debt. There are things out there who would be able to tell that, and they would know of our association because of it. There would be a connection between us, one which could be taken advantage of from either side." I paused, wondering if that explanation would be clear enough for them before deciding to press on anyway. "More than that, this information might be the difference between life and death for you someday. If it does save you, than the connection between us would only grow stronger."

"To save someone's life…is to own them forever after," Shigure murmured, quoting the ancient Chinese proverb about responsibilities. Kushinada's eyes narrowed as she understood just what I was trying to imply.

"Indeed," she murmured. "I have no desire to find myself indebted to one of the Katsujin Ken." She gave me another studying look. "But if that is the case, hasn't everyone here already found themselves in your debt already? Doesn't your previous explanation count towards a debt to you?"

I shook my head, having already considered this before I had even begun this little meeting. "In the case of the Shikome, I wasn't acting out of anyone's interest. I was simply a passerby who happened to come across a monster and acted accordingly. I was saving my own life as much as I was helping everyone else. And as for explaining the Nightworld, this is nothing more than me repaying the debt of my own initiation forward. I've told you nothing that wasn't already told me when I first had my encounter with the Kai."

"It seems you have a talent for sophistry, boya," Kushinada informed me, her expression still studying as she took in my justifications for my earlier actions. I grimaced, slightly, but made no other comment. Even if I probably could have walked away from the Shikome itself, my involving myself in the fight could very well constitute assistance to both Kushinada and Shigure. Saying that I just happened to come across a monster and respond was a bit of an exaggeration, but I was confident enough that my actions weren't enough to truly qualify as me having earned a debt from any of the three. Still, even if Kushinada seemed aware of how close a line I was dancing, she didn't seem to care. "Very well. Tell me, Shirahama-kun: what would be the price of your consultation?"

"You can pay me whatever you think my advice will be worth to you," I told her. Kushinada's eyebrow rose slightly, but I didn't make any move to change the price.

I probably could have asked for any amount, whether it be something ridiculously small or unfairly large, and no one here would have had any experience to argue with it. However, this too was a way of ensuring that the repayment of the debt would be even. Only Kushinada truly knew how much my advice would be worth to her, so only she could set the price. If I were to attempt to name any other amount, then I might find myself over or under charging without even realizing it.

"Chikage," Kushinada addressed her disciple after a moment's pause.

"Yes, Master?" the girl was instantly attentive, turning all her attention to her instructor as she patiently waited for her orders.

"Go into my office. On the bottom drawer, you will find a black briefcase. Please fetch it here."

"Right away, Master," Chikage was up in an instant, nearly racing to accomplish the task set to her. I wasn't certain how far away Kushinada's office was, but no one spoke while we waited for the Disciples return.

It took less than a minute, but when Chikage returned she was carrying a moderately sized briefcase which she clutched tightly to her chest. The young disciple approached her Master from the side, before kneeling in one smooth motion and offering the briefcase to Kushinada gracefully. When the elder Jujitsu user took it, Chikage stood and then quickly returned to her cushion, kneeling again in the same position she had earlier.

"Will this be sufficient?" Kushinada asked as she set the briefcase before her and clicked it open in one easy move. My eyes bugged out as I saw just what was in it.

"Y-you certainly seem to hold my advice in high value," I squeaked out as I took in row upon row of thousand yen bills stacked neatly in the briefcase. Even Shigure seemed moderately affected by the sight of that much money gathered into one place. There must have been hundreds of thousands of yen in there.

"Whether or not your advice will be worth this much remains to be seen," Kushinada commented in a somewhat dry voice. "Nonetheless, this shall be sufficient for now."

"Right," I began, swallowing hard as Kushinada closed the briefcase, leaving it in front of her. It took an effort of will, but I dragged my eyes off the small fortune in front of me so that I could focus on the older woman once more. "Very well." I took a deep breath, and then began my consultation.

"From what I know of the Kai," I began, "and of the Shikome in particular, I can think of five possible methods with which to deal with them. The first is the simplest: simply ignore the problem and hope it goes away."

"Boya," Kushinada began, her tone darkening as her eyes narrowed. I held up one hand to forestall what would no doubt be a frightening scolding, already having expected this reaction.

"As inadequate as it is, it is still the simplest method of dealing with the Shikome," I explained, and Kushinada paused as she waited to hear me out. "As powerful as Shikome might be, they aren't omniscient or omnipotent. Earlier, the Shikome couldn't find you directly, having to rely on following Chikage until she returned to you. And even though it did track you down eventually, it wasn't until sometime after you had caught its attention."

"Indeed," Kushinada agreed slowly, nodding as she realized that I wasn't just trying to give bad advice. "You're implying that the Shikome might not return at all?"

"Either that, or it won't be able to find you again," I added. "When your necklace was broken it was distracted, even going so far as to attack the individual beads rather than you yourself. It's a bit of a guess, but it's possible that the Shikome was only tracking you by scent. Its eyes were covered after all, and that might not have been just for show: the eyes are some of the first parts of a body to decay once it's dead. It might actually be completely blind on its own. If you were to simply avoid returning to Izumo province…"

"Then the Shikome might not be able to find me again," Kushinada completed my thought, nodding slightly as she caught my train of logic. "You seem to be basing a great deal of this theory off of conjuncture, boya," she pointed out, no doubt referring to my assumptions that the Shikome had been tracking her through smell or were blind naturally.

"I've studied a lot of different legends ever since I entered the Nightworld," I admitted, "but a lot of the information I've gathered is suspect, and there's no real way to confirm a lot of it until I've come across a specific Kai. Since this is the first time I've met a Shikome..." I trailed off, shrugging helplessly. "If you want, you can retain your payment and I can stop this consultation now," I offered, giving Kushinada a chance to back out from paying a whole lot for advice which could end up being completely useless.

Kushinada shook her head, apparently still willing to hear the rest of my advice. "You mentioned four other options," she pointed out, "continue."

"The second is to either gather more skilled fighters, or to adjust your own style until you have the physical abilities to match a Shikome," I continued. "When Shigure-san attacked with the Shinto Gourenzan the thing responded, treating her like a threat. Even though the move itself didn't hurt the thing, Shigure-san was still using the flat of her blade. If she had used the edge, then it might have been possible to kill the Shikome directly."

"But isn't the Shikome a goddess?" Kushinada asked, her eyes narrowed as she took in the new advice. It appeared she didn't care for it that much as well. She was a Master of a Martial Art style that she was particularly proud of, after all. I was in affect saying that the Kushinada style of Jujitsu was useless in this situation, and that she should rely on another style or fighter to protect her. "I would not think that gods would be so easily killed."

"Gods die," I told her bluntly, my voice serious. "They die all the time. It's why Izanami is in Yomi in the first place after all: because she died. I've never seen one killed myself, but there were four times when I had to deal with gods before, and in two of them killing was very nearly the only answer I could find." I paused, meeting Kushinada's eyes directly before I continued. "If you choose this method, then do so only after careful consideration: killing a god has consequences of its own as well."

"I see," Kushinada answered, and though she didn't stutter she did sound surprised at how directly I was meeting her gaze, and how serious my tone of voice was.

"The third option is to retire from the life of the Satsujin Ken, and to dedicate yourself to the life of a Miko," I continued, my voice less stern as I forced myself to calm down slightly. "Izanami is a goddess, after all. Even if you angered her, if you were to make an attempt to appease then she might forgive her grudge against you. If you were to cease killing, you would no longer be infringing on her domain of death, and if you were to dedicate yourself to her as a priestess, then she would most likely no longer be concerned about your appearance."

"Repentance and restitution," Kushinada nodded, and though she didn't sound as though she cared much for this particular method either it was more along the lines of what she had been expecting when she first asked me for this consultation. "Though at the cost of me no longer being able to practice my style, either."

"It's a method, nothing more, nothing less," I reminded her, and she nodded once before tilting her head as though to invite me to continue. "The fourth method is to maim yourself."

"What?" Kushinada definitely had not been expecting this particular way of Shikome-proofing herself. I nodded, continuing in the same serious tone I'd been using since I began.

"Just like becoming a priestess, this is a way to reduce Izanami's grudge against you," I explained. "There are plenty of killers out there in the world, after all. Izanami doesn't get angry at all of those who infringe upon her domain. In fact, she often favors many of them, blessing them for helping her fulfill her desire to end all life. In your case, it's your beauty in particular as well as your apparent status as a Miko. If you had killed in something besides the robes of a priestess, then maybe Izanami wouldn't have taken particular note of you, but now that she has marked you then just a change of clothes would probably not be enough. However, if you were to diminish your beauty then it might be enough for the goddess to quell her wrath."

"And to what extent would you proscribe maiming as a method?" Kushinada prompted me, her lips pursed as she took in this new course of action.

"I doubt it would have to be to the extent that it would affect your ability to perform your style," I admitted, my own eyes narrowing as I considered just how badly she would have to disfigure herself in order to slip beneath Izanami and the Shikome's notice. "It would most likely just have to be something noticeable and unattractive, something to diminish your physical appearance to the point where you would no longer inspire envy."

"I see," Kushinada nodded slowly, her gaze slipping to the floor in front of her. It looked as though she was taking my words seriously, and that filled me with a bit of relief. It had been a long time since I had given a consultation like this, and even longer since I had had a reliable person to seek advice from in these cases. Oshino Meme, the man who had first taught me about the Kai, was long gone, and now I only had the experience I had gained and the studying I had done to guide me. Kushinada seemed to ponder the courses of action I had described already before once more focusing her attention on me. "And the final method?"

I took a deep breath, remaining silent for a moment, before I glanced down at my clothes, searching for something. It only took me a second to locate one: a hair from the Shikome which had got caught on my clothing earlier when the thing had been molesting me. I plucked the long filthy hair from where it had gotten snagged on one of my buttons and then held it out to the patiently waiting Kushinada.

"The final method to prevent the Shikome from returning for you is to kill," I told the older woman, my voice dead serious. "Kill, kill, and kill again. Kill endlessly. Take this thread of hair, and sew it into your flesh somewhere as a sign of consecration, and then commit yourself to Izanami's service, not as a priestess to give her glory but as a killer to help her accomplish her goal of ending all life."

"Kenichi," Shigure hissed, sounding genuinely shocked at my final solution. Even Chikage and Kushinada seemed surprised at hearing a Katsujin Ken casually advising a person to engage in endless murder.

"How surprising," Kushinada murmured, and though she managed to conceal it mostly I could definitely tell she was surprised by my final suggestion. "I hadn't expected to hear such a thing from you, boya."

"You paid me what you thought my advice was worth," I reminded her, my tone grim. "If I were to give you anything less than my best advice, then it would be me who was failing to hold up to the agreement and I would instead be in your debt. No offense, Kushinada-san, but I definitely don't want to owe you anything."

"How charmingly straightforward," Kushinada's smile grew a bit at my statement. Reaching out across the space between us her hand brushed my ever so slightly as she took the thread of hair from my grasp. "So if I were to simply bear this charm and continue my life, then I would never have to be wary of the Shikome again?"

"It would be more than that, Kushinada-san," I corrected, and her smile faded slightly as she realized that I hadn't finished yet. "I told you, wear this hair, kill in her name, and dedicate yourself to her service; you wouldn't just be continuing your life, you would be becoming one of Izanami's servants, her handmaiden."

Kushinada's eyes widened as she realized what I was saying. I nodded, and said it out loud just so there would be no doubt in her mind what I was telling her.

"You would become one of the Shikome yourself."

"So I would become one of the Wretched Women of Yomi," Kushinada murmured, and I think there might have been a trace of irony in her voice as she did so. She already was a woman of Yami, after all, seeing as that was what the organization she belonged to called itself. "Just like that rotten creature earlier?"

"Rotten or not," I reminded her, my voice soft, "that thing was a goddess. It was a creature more powerful than most humans' could ever dream of. You most likely wouldn't become one until you died anyway, but once you did you would be one of the servants of one of the most powerful and oldest of divinities in this land. With the strength you already have in life combined with the power you would receive in death, you may very well become the foremost of her handmaidens as well."

It was a terrifying thought, truth be told. Kushinada was already a frighteningly powerful fighter as it was. The thought of her as a divine creature, one of the murderous personifications of death itself tasked with the destruction of all human life by their vengeful goddess, was enough to make my blood run like ice in my veins.

"It seems that I was right to seek your advice, Shirahama-kun," Kushinada finally concluded, her voice distant as she glanced down at the hair still in her hand. "It seems that the price of your consultation was money well spent."

"Thank you," I said, trying to be professional as I did so. "Was there anything else you needed, Kushinada-san?"

"Oh?" Kushinada managed to drag her gaze up from the small black thread she was fingering idly. "Not going to advise me on which of the paths to take?"

"You hired me to give you choices," I reminded Kushinada, feeling a bit anxious despite the fact that I wasn't going to pry. "Not to tell you which one to take."

"Hmmm," Kushinada hummed, and gave me another one of those cold smiles which made my blood freeze. Just think, I reminded myself, very soon that could be a smile on a rotting corpse goddess. That thought made me literally shiver. "That's fine, boya. I've already decided just which choice I will make."

*Scene Break*

The trip back to Ryouzanpaku was quiet for the most part. If I had been making the trip back with anyone else, I might attribute the silence to them being disturbed by the battle beforehand, or maybe them trying to acclimate to the new change in their perception of reality that typically accompanied being welcomed to the Nightworld.

However, since the one I was traveling with was Shigure, I thought it more likely that it was simply because the swordswoman didn't have anything in particular to say.

We must have made for an odd looking pair. Shigure was using my school shirt over her kimono to help preserve her modesty while we traveled back. It was a pretty common action whenever the two of us went out on Underworld field trips. For all her immense skill, Shigure did have a tendency to lose large portions of her clothing during her battles. It was most likely due to the fact that most of her opponents tended to use weapons and be skilled enough to get close to nearly harm her while they were dueling.

In return, this time Shigure had lent me her trench coat so that I wouldn't have to ride the train back looking like a delinquent in nothing but the wife beater that I used as an undershirt. The coat was an unusually heavy garment, which might have had something to do with the dozens upon dozens of weapons that I learned were strapped to the inside of the coat in just about every available space the garment had.

The entire trip we got more than a few odd looks, which might have had something to do with the way the two of us were dressed. If I had to guess I would probably say it had more to do with the way the two of us smelled though. The scent of the Shikome was still lingering on us, Shigure from when it had bound her in its hair, and myself from when it had gotten too know me a little too much for my comfort.

It wasn't until the trip was almost finished and the two of us were nearly in sight of Ryouzanpaku that Shigure finally spoke.

"Dinner… is probably cold by now," she noted, sounding as though the observation was something not even she was really interested in.

"Sorry," I apologized, not sure what else to say to her.

"It's fine. As long as Kenichi is alright… then I don't mind," Shigure told me. "It is the Master's responsibility… to look after the disciple." Shigure nodded, and it would have been a touching display of concern if I didn't notice the way she made a small fist in front of her as though to say 'Yes!' at having said something cool in front of her disciple.

"Thank you, Shigure-san," I told her, and found myself meaning it. Shigure, for all that I counted her as one of my Masters ,was probably the person I spent the least time with out of all of Ryouzanpaku.

Truthfully, I often found myself uncomfortable in her presence. It might have had something to do with her noticeable lack of nudity taboos, or the way she tended to wield sharp and pointy weapons which often seemed to only just avoid hitting me, or it could just be that her personality was kind of unapproachable. Whatever the case was, I often found myself making excuses not to be around the older woman.

Strangely though, it was these same traits which made me a little happy that it had been Shigure out of all my Masters who had discovered this piece of my history. I think she was the least likely to ever reveal any of my secrets, either on purpose like Akisame or Ma might, or by accident like Apachai or Sakaki probably would. More than that, I think she might be the only one in Ryouzanpaku which might be able to emphasize with what it meant to deal with things like the Kai.

I knew a little about her past, which she had allowed Akisame to tell me once a while back. Shigure had never had a very normal childhood, being raised out in the wilderness by her blacksmith father. So many of the norms and habits that those raised in civilization had tended to interfere with dealing with the Kai. The Kai didn't care about things like rules, or laws. They were creatures that existed according to their own nature, bereft of the common sense which marked human civilization.

Common sense that Shigure often didn't seem to have either for that matter. The only other Master that even came close to having divorced themselves from human civilization was Sakaki, come to think of it. And as reassuring as Sakaki could be to have at your back, I honestly don't think we would have come out of the Kushinada shrine without having at least one more fight if I had had to rely on Sakaki's definition of diplomacy when negotiating with Kushinada.

Still, even though I was thankful for Shigure's discretion, I couldn't help but feel that maybe I was taking advantage of it as well. Even if I didn't want to talk about certain things, even with one of my beloved Masters, it didn't change the fact that Shigure might want to know. If she had asked me, then I could politely decline, true, but if she didn't even ask, it made me feel as though I was taking her complacency for granted.

"Shigure-san," I began, and when she glanced at me slightly without saying anything I took it as a sign to continue. "Was there anything you wanted to ask me?"

"No," Shigure responded, shaking her head as she did so. "It's fine, Kenichi," she reassured me, as though she had been reading my mind. "If you want to tell me… than you will tell me."

I found myself smiling back at her. "Thank you, Shigure-san," I told her earnestly. The look she gave me back wasn't quite a smile, but I could definitely make out the faintest lifting of the corner of her mouth. It was enough to make me miss a step for a moment. The last time I had seen that expression on her face was back on Horinji Island when she had taught me how to swim.

"We're… here," Shigure pointed out, and I realized that without having noticed we had arrived right in front of the gates to Ryouzanpaku.

"Ah, right," I nodded, and went ahead to open the immense doors. I knew that Shigure could handle it by herself, but it seemed polite to do it for her. That and I still felt a proud little thrill whenever I managed to open the incredibly heavy gates that had once bedeviled me so.

I had barely gotten the gate open enough for the two of us to walk through side by side when I suddenly found myself lying on my back on the ground, staring up into the panicked face of Miu as she sat on my chest after having tackled me.

"Kenichi-san," the blond wailed, looking me over as she clutched both her hands in front of her chest. "You're okay!" Even as she made the announcement Miu proceeded to start checking me all over, as though a more thorough search might reveal missing limbs that she had missed the first time around. "When you didn't come back right away, everyone was worried that maybe Yami had tried something," she continued, "and then when we realized that Shigure had gone to look for you everyone got even more worried!"

"How… rude," Shigure murmured, though she didn't seem overly concerned over the implication that me being in her presence somehow managed to increase the danger that I might have been in.

"Oh," a new voice joined in as Akisame made his way to where I was still pinned at the entrance. "What's this? Did something unexpected happen while you two were out?"

"Surprise…Underworld field trip," Shigure responded, already walking past Akisame and where I was still pleasantly pinned by a worried Miu.

"So something did happen?" It was Sakaki who spoke up there, the bulky Karate Master lumbering up as well. "Did the old man's old squeeze try something after all?" Sakaki threw back his head and laughed uproariously at the implication that Kushinada and the Elder might have once been an item. The fact that he seemed to find that more important than the fact that we had both had come home dirtied and injured was a sure sign that he had begun his nightly drinking already.

"Just… a little," Shigure answered perfunctory to the accusation made in jest by the bigger man.

"Are you injured again, Shigure-san?" Ma broke in, appearing from the house proper as Miu regretfully got off of me finally. Secretly, I was rather happy to have the feeling of her weight on me. It was so much more pleasant than when something else had been pressing against me earlier, and in a flash of genius I realized that I had inadvertently discovered a way to help bury the memories of the Shikome's assault on me.

"No… just my clothes," Shigure admitted, and without a second thought began to shrug off my shirt to reveal the large gash in her kimono and chainmail. Though her armor had managed to protect her, closer inspection revealed large abrasions across her body where the Shikome's hair bondage had caused friction abrasions on her. Still, she wasn't bleeding anywhere, so she was one better than Kushinada had managed.

"Kenichi-san!" Miu yelped, covering my eyes quickly to prevent me from getting yet another eyeful of Shigure's ample and exposed chest. Despite the brevity of the moment, I decided that I would treasure the memory as yet another addition to my recently invented 'Etchi To Beat The Revulsion' cache of memory.

"Thank you… for the shirt, Kenichi," Shigure told me, before tossing me back the garment. "Bring my coat by… later."

"Wait, Shigure-san," Akisame called after her, his tone curious. "Just what exactly happened?"

"It's… a secret," was the last thing Shigure called back before making her escape.

"Hmmm," Sakaki hummed as the enigmatic swordswoman as she left. "Guess we'll just have to ask the other one instead…" It might have been my imagination, but it was almost as though hellish light was emitting from the drunken Master's eyes as he turned to face me.

Finding myself the sudden center of the attention of a large number of Masters and Miu all staring at me intently, I decided that a distraction was in order. Pulling the briefcase with the payment I had received from the job, I popped it open and showed it to the crowd at large.

"Hrk," Sakaki's was probably the most eloquent response among the Masters as the sight of a very large number of bills. Miu's was probably the most honest however, as the girl's eyes widened until they seemed to take up a much larger proportion of her head than they normally did. I swear, I could see yen signs appearing in her eyes as she took in just how much money was being stored in the briefcase I was holding.

"K-K-Kenichi-san," she gasped, and she was literally trembling as she stuttered. "W-w-where did you get that much money!"

"Payment for services rendered," I told her, waving the briefcase back and forth slightly, and feeling guiltily amused by the way Miu's head seemed to follow the movements as though in a trance.

"A-a-and some of that goes to Ryouzanpaku, right?" Miu's voice was slightly distorted as a bit of drool began to leak its way unnoticed down the side of her mouth. I felt a brief stab of guilt as I realized why it was that Miu was so entranced with the money. Ryouzanpaku was never the most prosperous of dojos, considering how despite how much raw talent and skill was gathered here there was very little in the way of teaching besides myself.

I had originally been planning to keep the money for myself, honestly. It was after all a payment made directly to me for services rendered, and while I might have trouble explaining it to my parents it was still rightfully mine. Despite that, I decided that I could let it slide just this once.

"Since it was Shigure-san who did all the work," I lied with what I hoped was a convincing smile, "it all belongs to Ryouzanpaku. I was just carrying it because Shigure doesn't have a head for money."

I had always known that Miu was a great deal faster than me, but that didn't prepare me for just how quickly the girl managed to take the briefcase from me, holding it to her ample chest as she began to spin happily.

"Oh! With this we don't have to worry about food for at least three months!" she cheered happily, her eyes closed with bliss as she gloried in the unexpected contribution to the household expenses. "We can repair the roof! And the wall! We might even be able to afford an air conditioner!"

"And beer!" Sakaki cheered happily, and Miu paused to give him a flat look.

"This money is going to the dojo, not to your drinking, Sakaki-san," she scolded him crossly, and Sakaki flinched, giving the much younger girl a sheepish grin as she continued to berate him.

"While this windfall is welcome, it is still unexpected," Akisame noted, where he was still standing near me. The Philosophical Jujitsu Master was still giving me a grave look as he studied me. "Kenichi-kun, if you don't mind me asking, just what happened to rate such a sum?"

"I was forced to endure an experience so horrible and terrifying that I don't think I will ever fully recover from it," I told him bluntly. Akisame blinked, surprised at my straightforward answer. "It will be a scar I will bear my entire life, and one that I will never speak of, not even on pains of death."

"Hmmm," Akisame murmured, giving me a measuring look. "Well, if you're so certain of that, perhaps we should begin todays training," he reminded me, and I could hear the unspoken threat in his voice.

"You know," I began, my eyes narrowing in response. "Shigure mentioned something interesting by accident earlier. Something about how I already died once during training. Akisame-sensei, you wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

"Oh!" Akisame declared, already turning and walking away, apparently ignoring my question entirely. "Look at the time. I have that appointment at my clinic that I need to be getting too. Feel free to take the day off, Kenichi-kun."

Despite myself, I couldn't help a small smile at the reaction. Sometimes it was easy to forget, amidst all the pain and hardship that living at Ryouzanpaku brought with it, just how much I enjoyed the company and guidance of my Masters.

And blackmailing them. Blackmailing them was definitely a surprisingly enjoyable experience at times.

"Ma-sensei," I began, and the Chinaman froze from where he was halfheartedly creeping away after the revelation that I had discovered about my death at all of their collective hands.

"Ah, Kenichi-kun," Ma began, the smaller man giving me an innocent look from beneath his enormous eyebrows. "When did you get here?"

"Ma-sensei," I began, ignoring his question so that I could get straight to his point. "I have suffered something so horrible today that I don't think I'll ever fully recover from it. So far, the only answer I have as to how to deal with it is to drown the memory of the experience in something infinitely more pleasant and hope that I can block it out completely."

"I see," Ma said slowly, though it was clear to me that he wasn't quite certain where I was going with this train of thought. "And what does this have to do with me again?"

"Can I borrow some of your ero-books?" I asked him plaintively. For a moment, Ma seemed surprised at my request, and then he recovered. Giving me a sage smile, he patted my shoulder gently.

"Of course you can, my Disciple," he assured me. "Of course you can."


	2. Chapter 2

Honor Thy Masters

_Well, here's a new chapter. After I finished the first one, despite the fact that it was meant to be nothing more than a freewrite to get my juices flowing again, I discovered that I actually kind of liked the premise that I had incidentally invented. That combined with me going back to reread xxxholic of all things combined to give me a new idea that I wanted to try out._

_For those who don't know xxxholic, it was a pretty popular clamp series that focused around mysteries, supernatural phenomenon, and ancient legends. It was a pretty good series, even if it was destroyed in fandom by far too many 'ho yay!' fangirls who can't seem to wrap their heads around platonic male friendship. I found myself wanting to write a story which focused around some of the older myths and legends that treated those old stories with a certain amount of gravity._

_Considering I already had used a Shikome as a monster, it looked like this story might be the one to use._

_Anyway, I decided to finish Honor Thy Masters, and use it as a chance to get some of the other lingering ideas that had been plaguing me for a while out of my head so I can start focusing again on other things. I have a planned six chapters for the story, and I'm already really looking forward to chapters three and five because of the themes I really want to write about in them._

_For those wondering when In Flight will be back up, never fear. I think I'm almost about ready to start back in on it. My real life situation is definitely settling down now, and soon the second half of Fate/zero will be starting off to start giving me Nasu-inspiration again. Add on to that how writing Shigure has reawakened my love for the Kuudere, and I'll soon be back to my long and ambitious harem story._

_Seriously though, writing Shigure is almost as much fun as writing Akitsu. You readers have no idea how close Shigure came to forgetting her panties a few times._

_Anyway, brief spoilers ahead, so feel free to skip if you want to get to the story._

_*Spoilers*_

_The two monsters I chose for this chapter were the Satori and the Ookami. The Satori is a pretty uncommon monster, and I liked the idea of using something that most readers won't know about, like I did with the Shikome. I think the only other time I've found a Satori in modern stories was in Ga-Rei, though I think the Touhou series have used them before as well._

_Besides that, the Satori let me get a chance to help develop Shigure as a character for a bit. I think I kept her true to her canon self, albeit with a touch of deus ex machina in there as well. Shigure always tries to show off for Kenichi, and constantly tries to imitate the other Masters and then looks to them for approval as well. Add in the fact that even Miu is suspicious of Shigure's intentions towards Kenichi, and there was a lot of fertile ground to work with there._

_That and I like Shigure, so she gets the spotlight._

_As for the wolf, I wanted to show off the idea that just because there's a higher power out there, it doesn't mean that power likes you. So much of the time gods only show up to give blessings, or help main characters, or are 'unconsciously drawn to the GAR spirit of the protagonist and thus supports them' and etc. It's a pretty common shounen element, and one I wanted to shun. And thus, SHUUUUUUUUN. Here's a god that has power, that has seen the protagonist at his best, and still doesn't like him. In fact, it outright detests him._

_*End Spoilers*_

_Anyway, here's the next chapter of Honor Thy Masters, wherein Kenichi's tragic past is slightly illuminated, gods and demons abound, and we get some fanservice of Shigure's loincloth._

_Story Start_

It was the wolf that warned me that things were going to change.

And rather than meaning that in some sort of metaphorical or figurative fashion I meant quite literally that a wolf told me that things weren't going to stay the same anymore.

The first time I saw the wolf was while we were wandering back down the mountain departing from the village of the Kuremisago, the people of the Black Osprey. The Kuremisago were apparently once a clan famous for their pursuit of the height of physical ability through the use of a selective breeding program. Through generations of careful effort they had managed to produce people of such power that even a single one of them could be the equal of a battalion of normal soldiers. They had come to an end when a rift formed between two factions of the clan, a rift over whether they should pursue the goals of their clan or whether or not they should relax the strict rules they had about breeding. The rift had turned bloody, and brother turned against brother as sister killed sister until finally the clan was all but erased from the world.

And walking next to me was the one, however indirectly, responsible for that rift coming about.

No more than an hour ago, Miu and I had heard the entire story of the circumstances of her birth from the Elder, Miu's grandfather. I don't know how I would have reacted if I had heard such a story in relation to myself. The very thought of just how much blood had been shed over this feud, of all the lives it had claimed, including Miu's own mother, was enough to send a shiver down my spine. Despite that, Miu seemed inordinately calm, almost cheerful.

I knew that the reason for her cheer. For Miu, this story had been a long time coming, a mystery which had haunted her probably since the day she realized that she wasn't like other children. She didn't have a mother or father, only her grandfather. Where other kids were going to school and getting into childish trouble, she had been fighting armed assailants and disarming bombs. Dodging pursuers armed with guns and knives and fighting against gangsters and madmen, for her violence was as much a part of her as breathing. Rather than being disturbed at the revelation of her family's history, she instead could brush aside the unpleasant and focus on the thoughts of her mother, and of the sacrifice the passed away woman had made for her as an infant.

For me, I was just thankful that the ghosts of the dead of that village had apparently rested easy. That or they had no time for someone as insignificant as I was in terms of martial arts and breeding. Either that, or they didn't realize just how much trouble they could cause me if they decided to show themselves.

Besides Miu and myself, there were three others present as we made the trip down from the village, my Masters from Ryouzanpaku: the Elder, Apachai, and Shigure. As though Miu's mood was somehow infectious, both the Elder and Apachai seemed particularly cheerful as we made the trip. The Elder, Furinji Hayato, the grandfather of Miu, he had good reason for his cheer. He had long concealed the story he had just told for fear of just how it would affect Miu. I could understand that worry, and when Miu had smiled at him after he finally told the truth the expression on his face was like that of a condemned criminal receiving a pardon.

Apachai's good mood probably had more to do with his natural good cheer, but even the childish Muay Thai user wasn't completely oblivious to the tension of the scene that had unfolded earlier. Though the confrontation that had occurred with Hongou Akira, the God Hand of the One Shadow Nine Fist, could have gone a lot worse than it had, it had certainly been enough to build the tension all on its own, much less with the Elders story added to it. Add on to that was Apachai's injuries, the wounds which should have killed him during his final showdown with his old mentor Jum Sai Agaard, and any normal person would have plenty of reason to be sulky.

Despite that though, Apachai was cheerfully clapping his hands as he walked, singing a song that seemed to be composed entirely of the words, 'Yabba Dabba Do!' over and over again.

The only one of the group besides myself that didn't seem to be able to brush off the import of the events that just happened appeared to be Shigure. At least, that's what I thought originally, until out of the corner of my eye I caught sight of the weapon user as she flitted about in the branches above us.

Shigure rarely walked on the ground, or so I had noticed often in the past. Whenever the option was presented to her she tended to drift towards high places. Sleeping in the rafters of her room, eating in the space above the dining room, and even walking through the corridors by clenching a roof beam with her toes; whenever the option was there Shigure would go up rather than sideways like normal people. Even now, while she was more or less walking with the rest of the group she was still spending more time hopping from branch to branch rather than pacing along on the dirt.

It made it a bit hard to judge the mood of the weapon user, but after I caught sight of her through the corner of my eye I was able to locate her doing something which made me do a double take.

I had never seen a grown woman chasing a butterfly with a kunai before, after all, but that was just what the older woman was doing it seemed. She was approaching it as though she was a cat, body hunched over as she crawled effortlessly over the too thin looking branch she was balancing on. She had one hand out, with a finger held towards the butterfly and the other held a sharp throwing dagger at the ready.

It looked to be a halfhearted chase, to be sure, but Shigure was definitely matching pace with the delicate insect, reaching out to poke it periodically whenever it seemed like it was going to land. She kept stretching out her empty hand, trying to place it under the butterfly while it was in the air, and I realized that Shigure was apparently attempting to force the bug to land on her finger, and she was going to get it to do just that one way or another.

Well, I sighed too myself, at least I was still properly disturbed by the revelations which had been given today, even if no one else seemed to be giving it too much thought.

Despite my disillusionment, I couldn't help but let my eye linger on Shigure for a few moments. Apparently my wandering eye stayed a little too long as I heard Miu pipe up from my side.

"Ah," Miu chime, her voice echoing her displayed cheer. "Shigure-san! That looks like fun!"

I suppose I was lucky that Miu seemed to be just as distracted by the butterfly as Shigure was, otherwise I could have probably looked forward to some grief from the younger girl for wandering eyes. It seemed that lately Miu had been increasingly insistent when it came to demanding my attention. At least, that's what it seemed like whenever there was another girl around. The presence of Renka, for instance, always seemed to increase Miu's attention exponentially.

I wasn't quite so naïve as to not realize the reason for that particular characteristic that Miu had been developing lately. I could still remember a night not too long past, when the two of us had sat together on the roof of an empty dojo. I could still remember the words I had haltingly spoken to her, of the feelings I couldn't put into words yet but still felt. And I could still remember her own response, both the soft words and the even softer touch of her lips on my cheek.

It was progress, of a sort, between the two of us, and it was progress I treasured. That the path the two of us were walking together was being taken slowly didn't bother me. Just the thought that we were beginning to travel it was enough for me.

It was while I was thinking that, looking down from where Shigure was continuing her chase to where Miu was apparently trying to find a branch thick enough to support her own weight so she could join in, that I saw the wolf that was watching our group.

It was an odd looking creature. Its fur was tan and short, and its proportions were all wrong. The common picture of a wolf that most people have these days is of noble creatures with well-muscled haunches and grey fur. That's because most people are only familiar with the iconic timber wolf found in North America. I'm not sure just how it happened, but probably through a combination of several famous movies and popular demand the grey timber wolf just ended up being the most famous representation of its species. Kind of like how Ping Pong became such a famous brand of product that most people don't even realize that the sport was actually called Table Tennis.

The Honshuu wolf was actually quite different in appearance than the popular image of its species. With tan short fur, a slightly long neck, and a strangely narrow snout the Honshuu wolf more closely resembled something like a fox or a weasel than it did its American counterpart. It had a far sleeker air to it, as though it was built for speed rather than for power, as though it was craftier than it was noble. I don't think most people would actually recognize a Honshuu wolf if they came across it.

After all: the Honshuu wolf has been extinct for over a hundred years.

And yet here one was, right now, sitting above my small group on the stairs that led down the mountain away from the deserted village, its head cocked to the side as it studied us curiously.

I actually had a moment where I hoped that just maybe this was the dramatic rediscovery of a long thought extinct species. That we would be able to just capture the specimen, present it to an appropriate scientist, and then make a lot of money off the discovery by going on talk shows.

Then the wolf's eyes met mine and one of its eyelids winked at me, and I knew that this was just going to be one of those days.

"What a strange looking puppy," Miu chimed in, and I jerked with a start that I realized I had been staring at the wolf. The busty blonde was standing next to me, one hand up as though to shade her eyes as she followed my gaze up the steps to where the wolf was watching us. "What kind of breed is that?"

"Hmmm?" the Elder hummed, and I realized he had at some point moved to where he was right behind me. I glanced back and up at him, wondering if the older man would be able to recognize just what it was that was watching us. I wasn't really quite sure just how old the Elder really was, and though I was willing to attribute more age to him than he probably actually had, I doubted he was really old enough to have seen a Honshuu wolf before. Then again, I wasn't really certain just how aware the Elder really was about certain aspects of reality.

It had been my experience in the past that the Kai tended to drift towards a specific breed of people. It always seemed that whenever a person found a Kai, it was generally because the Kai was in some way suited to them, as though the Kai was a reflection of some trait that a person already bore. I wasn't certain if that was because the person tended to attract a Kai that suited them, or if it was the Kai that attracted the person, but whatever the case there was usually a sort of symmetry which those of the Nightworld tended to display. Whatever the case, it always seemed to me that when a Kai and a person met, there was always some sort of underlying cause behind the meeting, as though either the person wished to meet the Kai or vice versa once again.

Maybe that was why so few Martial Artists tended to meet the Kai. It was my experience that most Martial Artists tended to be very satisfied with their lives. Most fighters tended to qualify as 'reaju', people who were completely satisfied with the lives they were living. Maybe it had something to do with the inherent nature of Martial Artists, of the way they were taking their lives into their own hands and helping to shape their destinies' with their own power. It might explain why it had taken me nearly a year living in the Underworld before the Nightworld once more began to infringe on my life. If that was true, it might even explain why it was Kushinada who was the first Martial Artist I had come across who needed initiation into the Nightworld; even if she was a Martial Artist who was satisfied with her life and it had taken her decades to finally attract the attention of a vengeful god, it was the amount of time which let her finally come across one of the Oddities.

But if that was the case, than was there a chance the Elder too was about to be initiated? Or maybe he already had, and just had done as I had and concealed it from those he didn't think were already aware?

"Hmph," the Elder finally grunted, a small frown appearing beneath his moustache. "It is a strange looking breed, isn't it?" The Elder seemed interested in the watching animal, but his interest didn't look to be anything more than idle curiosity. Though whether that meant he was truly aware of the creature's nature or whether he was just better at hiding it than I was at reading him I couldn't tell for sure.

"Apapa," Apachai added, his head tilted to the side as he did so, his voice curious. "What a strange kid," he commented, seeming confused by something. "He acts kind of old for his age."

I gave Apachai a strange glance. I had seen this kind of thing before from him, the odd way he had of talking to animals and seemingly being able to understand them in turn. Truthfully, I wasn't certain if he really was communicating with the pigeons and horses he so often conversed with or if it was just the gentle giant acting childish again. Whatever the case, whether there was a conversation I wasn't aware about going on or whether Apachai was just better at reading the moods of animals enough to realize that there was something off with the wolf, the fact that Apachai didn't think the canine standing above us was normal was a pretty good sign that I hadn't been hallucinating when the beast had winked at me.

Well, wild beast or rampant Kai, at least I knew the proper response to this particular incident.

Raising my hands, I clapped them twice in front of me, holding them together afterwards, and then I bowed briefly as though I were in front of a shrine. With my head still down and my eyes closed, I spoke.

"Ookami-sama," I began, my voice loud enough to reach the beast. "Please, don't eat us."

When I raised my head, it was to meet the wolf's eyes once more. The beast was still sitting on the step, but it had cocked its head to the side as though curious about something. Finally, it opened its mouth and gave a quick, 'Yip', a rather high pitched barking sound. Then its jaw hung open and its tongue came out as it panted, its tail wagging back and forth behind it as it did so.

"So cute!" Miu cheered, her eyes wide at the creature's appearance. I wouldn't go so far as to call it cute myself, but due to the fact that the Honshuu wolf barely came up to a foot high at the shoulder when standing, it did make the animal look like a rather young specimen of dog. "Here, here," Miu called out, waving one hand in front of her as she crouched down, trying to lure the wolf closer so she could capture it and play with it like she did so many of that cats which crossed her path.

The wolf paused in its panting, its tongue come back in as it cocked its head again, seeming confused. It let loose a small curious sounding whine. It still didn't seem hostile, so I spoke up again.

"If you escort us down the mountain, we can offer you some salt and azuki beans," I offered it. The wolf's ears perked up, but then it collapsed forward to lie on the steps, whimpering as it did so, its paws coming up to cover its ears. Finally, with another yip it stood and turned to head off the stairs and back into the mountain proper. With a flick of its tail and one last look towards us, it disappeared at a fast trot into the underbrush beside the path.

"Aw," Miu groaned, disappointed at the loss of the small and cuddly animal. "Kenichi," she turned to me, giving me a pouty glare. "You scared it away!"

"Ah," I rubbed the back of my head, trying to appear more remorseful than I really was. While Miu might have wanted the wolf to get closer, I myself was infinitely more relieved that it had left. "Sorry."

"Now, now, Miu," the Elder began, clapping a hand on both of our shoulders with a paternal air. "It's not Kenichi's fault it left. In fact," and here he gave me a curious look, "Kenichi was being particularly polite."

"Eh?" Miu made a curious noise, giving her grandfather a questioning look. I glanced at the older man too, surprised at his statement.

"Though I am a bit surprised," the Elder continued, still looking at me as he did so. "I didn't think that Kenichi-chan would know about that kind of thing."

"That… kind of thing?" Shigure prompted, and I realized with a start that the swordswoman had apparently descended from the high ground and was even now standing with the rest of the group proper. More than that, while the others of the group might still be maintaining the relaxed atmosphere that had characterized our trip Shigure was instead standing straight, and had one hand up to rest gently on the hilt of the long sword strapped to her back beneath her coat.

Her tense stance actually wasn't unexpected to me at all. In fact, her response was becoming customary to me. She had heard me address the wolf as 'Ookami' after all.

"Indeed," the Elder continued, a crooked smile forming under his moustache as he did. "That is the right way to address a 'yama-inu' after all."

"Yama-inu?" Miu repeated, one hand coming up to rest on her chin as her eyes furrowed in thought as she tried to recall where she had heard that term before.

"'Yama-inu', or mountain dog, is an old way of referring to 'ookami', to wolves," I explained, taking the opportunity to explain the old turn of phrase to my fellow disciple. When Miu glanced at me, her eyes widened in curiosity, I decided to go ahead and continue. It wasn't often that I had a chance to take the teaching role with Miu. All too often whenever something came up that had to be explained it was the more experienced Martial Artist blonde having to give an explanation to a clueless me after all.

So I couldn't be blamed for wanting to take the chance to show off a bit to the girl I liked, could I?

"In the old days," I continued, turning away from where the wolf had been watching and starting to continue down the mountain as the rest of the group too resumed its descent, "wolves were often thought of as being mystical creatures, like kitsune or tanuki. People use to think that they were either messengers or avatars of the gods. Sometimes, probably because of their names, they were even worshiped as gods themselves."

The Japanese word for wolf was 'ookami'. Though that was the actual Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese kanji for the species, as was so typical of Japanese in general there was another way for that name to be read as well. Most kanji had a Japanese way of being read, which was usually used when a kanji was being referred to specifically, but they also had a Chinese pronunciation as well which was usually completely different. Like with the first kanji of my own name, 'Shira': it actually used the kanji for 'white' and could be read either as 'shiro' or 'haku' depending on the situation. For 'ookami', the pronunciation could also be attributed to the kanji for 'big' and 'god'.

The Japanese were weird like that. It was probably why most of our jokes involved puns based around alternative readings for different kanji.

"You mean like the Oguchi-no-Makami?" Miu asked, citing one of the most famous examples of divine wolves in Japan. The shrine to the Oguchi-no-Makami, the True God of the Great Mouth, was still a rather popular shrine located in the Saitama prefecture.

"Yeah," I nodded, actually a bit disappointed that Miu already knew that much. How was I supposed to seem reliable if she already knew my explanation beforehand? "Well, back in the old days they said that sometimes wolves would show up in front of travelers in the wild," I continued, hoping that Miu didn't already know this legend completely. "They were called 'okuri-ookami', escorting wolves, back then. When an okuri-ookami showed up, there was either two different ways that they might act towards a traveler. The first was if the traveler politely asked the wolf to spare their lives and promised it a reward when they reached their destination, then the wolf would guard them while they were in the wilds until they made it to where they were going."

"Is that why you bowed back there?" Miu asked, her brow furrowing as she recalled my shrine like behavior. When I nodded in response she nodded herself slowly before continuing. "Then if one way is that the wolf helps the traveler, what's the other way?"

"The wolf waits till the traveler falls down, and then eats them," I summarized the other outcome of meeting an okuri-ookami bluntly. "Of course, that's just one version of the myth as well. In this version, what the wolf does depends on what the traveler does. I like this version better than the other."

"Why's that, Kenichi-san?" Miu prompted me, looking honestly interested in my story. If I was Shigure, I might make the mistake of spoiling the mood by clenching my hands in a 'Yes!' gesture, but since I was better at controlling myself I settled for cheering in my head.

"Because in the other version there are just two kinds of wolves that are completely different from each other," I explained, rubbing the back of my neck idly as I did so. "The ones who will help will help you no matter how you act, and the ones who will eat you will eat you no matter what you do." I glanced behind me briefly, checking to see if the wolf had reappeared. It still hadn't, and I heaved a sigh of relief at the thought that maybe this encounter really would be just this simple. "I like the idea that what I do has some impact on what will happen, so I tend to prefer the first one."

"Eeh!" Miu exclaimed, giving me a wide eyed look much like the one I had seen once before at the botanical gardens. "We've found another subject that Kenichi-kun is knowledgeable about! With taking a beating and plants that makes three!"

"Please don't sum up my strong points with such a short list," I muttered, sagging as Miu once more trampled on my pride with such innocence that I couldn't even blame her for it.

"So then the wolf… won't attack?" Shigure asked, taking advantage of the pause in the conversation to ask me a slow question.

"Now, now, Shigure-san," the Elder took it upon himself to respond, giving another grandfatherly smile at the weapon mistress. "Even if that's the legend, its just legend. There hasn't actually been a wolf in Japan since before even I was born."

I blinked, and did the math in my head. The last confirmed sighting a Honshuu wolf was in 1905 if my memory served. Well, even if it was just a ballpark estimate, I guess that helped me set the upper limit of just how old the Elder really was in my head.

"Hmm," was all Shigure said in response, and though she made no other move to indicate any other type of interest in the subject, I did manage to catch the look requesting confirmation from me from the corner of my eye. Just slightly enough for her to catch it, I gave a small shrug, indicating that I could neither confirm nor deny the Elder's proclamation. When Shigure turned away it appeared as though she had completely dismissed the subject.

However, I took note of the fact that she was no longer chasing butterflies either.

It looked like my Master was still on guard. She had good reason to be, for that matter.

Including this wolf, if that's what it really was, that would make the sixth Kai that she had come across since her brutal initiation into the Nightworld.

Considering just how long a time it took between that last fateful encounter before I had joined Ryouzanpaku and the arrival of the Shikome, nearly two years now at this point, I had thought that it would be another equally long time before I would come across another of the Kai. Perhaps, if things had turned out differently than that might have been the case. However, there was a new addition to the equation that had proven to have the effect of upping just how often I was coming across the Kai these days:

The curiosity of Kushinada.

Ever since the elder Jujitsu user had made her choice over just what route she would take in regards to the Shikome, it looked like she had made another decision as well. A week after the encounter I had my first clue over just what Kushinada was planning and that was when Chikage had started showing up at school in her shrine maiden outfit rather than her uniform. At first I had thought the younger girl was going to be engaging in Yomi business, the usual reason for her wearing that outfit. Instead, Chikage had just gone to class as normal.

The next day, she had come in the same outfit again, only this time she had included a nusa, the wooden wand bound with strips of paper that was used in many Miko rituals and dances. When none of the teachers had made any comment over this change in apparel, Niijima had done a little investigating as to why the little Disciple was getting away with it. Yasunaga-sensei had been all too happy to explain how Chikage had been accepted into a Miko training program designed to perpetuate and exemplify the ancient priestess tradition in an effort to help preserve Japanese culture.

Considering that Yasunaga-sensei had been willing to allow me to live with Miu simply because Akisame had a reputation for skill at calligraphy it went a long way to explaining why he was allowing the departure from traditional uniforms in this case.

While the uniform itself was only a mildly interesting event, when Chikage had approached me two weeks later, informing me that her Master would once more like to hire me in regards to certain events of a mysterious nature, I began to realize just why the girl was now taking her shrine duties so seriously.

I hadn't been willing to go with the Yomi disciple just by myself, but since the investigation had possible connections to the Kai, I hadn't wanted to just ignore it either. So instead I had called Shigure, and asked her to come along as well. The weapon mistress had declared that she and I were going to go on a surprise Underworld field trip, and that had been that. Kushinada herself never showed up during the entire incident, and two days later what had all the ear marks of a zashiki-warashii, the ghost of a mischievous child, proved to be exactly that and the spirit had been dealt with appropriately: it had been bribed with candy to behave.

When Chikage contacted me again three weeks later for another job, this time clutching a book titled 'Young Investigation Squad' in one hand and 'The Chronicles Of Japan', the second oldest book in Japanese literature which also held some of the oldest versions of my country's legends, my suspicion was confirmed.

Kushinada was not only surviving the Nightworld, but she was actively seeking to involve herself in it, as well as her Disciple. It also appeared that I was a victim of my own initial success, because despite being a Katsujin Ken, Kushinada was apparently dead set on having me along for the ride.

It wasn't like it was a totally bad experience though. For one thing, while on Nightworld excursions Chikage had assured me that I would be exempt from Yami or Yomi aggression during the course of the investigation. And it wasn't that hard to explain to Ryouzanpaku as well for that matter. If anything, whenever Shigure and I returned back from one of our supposed 'Underworld Fieldtrips' the rest of Ryouzanpaku tended to very carefully not ask what we had been up to. The bizarre nature of the injuries we did occasionally receive only reinforced that behavior.

Like the time we had to deal with that kappa. Modern media likes to portray kappa as friendly and helpful creatures. The truth was that they were minor demons with a penchant for tearing out vital organs by reaching up through the anus. While the injuries Shigure received for being caught unprepared and I received from trying to help Chikage during that encounter weren't quite that bad, they had been pretty awkward. I had never been so thankful for Ryouzanpaku's 'right to privacy' policy as I had back then.

Well, it wasn't like it was all bad. Kushinada continued to be a very generous employer, and with Shigure along the money could go back to Ryouzanpaku without any strange questions being asked.

While some of the investigations that Kushinada hired Shigure and myself for were nothing more than misinterpreted mundane events, the Jujitsu user had managed to find five specific incidents where the supernatural had been truly involved, and seeing how Shigure had been there for all of them the Master weapons user had already begun to develop a healthy respect for what it meant to deal with the Kai. So while the Miu, Apachai, and the Elder all seemed willing to dismiss the sighting of the wolf as nothing more than a curious incident with a wild dog, Shigure kept one hand surreptitiously in the sleeve of her coat, and seemed to deliberately put herself between where the wolf had been and me.

I suppressed a sigh. It wasn't my fault that all the Kai we came across seemed to be particularly attracted to me. I mean, yeah, I could make a few good guesses as to why most of the oddities we had come across had tried to kill me, or tried to kidnap me, or, and I still had to suppress a shudder at the horrific memory, tried to molest me, but I had been surviving the Kai long before I had joined Ryouzanpaku. I might not be an exorcist, but I was a good hand better at dealing with those encounters than most. However, it looked like Shigure's hands off policy in regards to martial arts death matches that she shared with the other Masters of Ryouzanpaku didn't seem to apply to encounters with ghosts, gods, or demons and the weapons user seemed to assume a much more proactive approach to protecting me whenever we went out on a Nightworld field trip.

Well, yeah, I had rather appreciated that kind of aggressiveness after the incident with the tengu, but I doubted I'd need that much protection in this incident. The wolf had shown up, I had reacted accordingly, and it had gone away. Other people had encounters like this all the time, even if some never realized that they had met one of the Kai in the first place. In all likelihood, nothing more was going to happen on this trip other than me making sure to buy some salt and azuki beans as an offering before we caught the train back towards the dojo.

"Ah!" Apachai spoke up, sounding happy as he did so, "that kid is back!" I winced, and I felt my eyebrow twitch once involuntarily.

"Oh!" Miu whirled around to look behind her, apparently happy that the animal had returned. "It's closer this time!" I felt my eyebrow twitch again as Miu continued. "Here, puppy," she crouched down, waving her hand again as she tried to entice the apparently friendly animal close enough for her to smother it with affection. "Come play with your nee-chan!"

Calm down, Kenichi, I told myself, taking a deep breath and continuing to walk down the mountain. It's not like you jinxed yourself by thinking that the event was over. Jinxes like that just don't happen. It's just a silly superstition. The wolf was an okuri-ookami, after all. It was probably just escorting us. Yeah. That was it. It was just making sure that we got off the mountain safely. There was no reason to think that this would become anything…

"Oh?" the Elder broke into my thoughts, also glancing back at the wolf as he rubbed his beard thoughtfully. "It looks like it has something there…"

It's just escorting us, I told myself firmly. Just escorting….

"Is that… Kenichi's cellphone?" Shigure asked, her voice in its usual monotone, and I felt a little more of my faith in the general benevolence of the world fade as I finally looked behind to double check on the wolf.

The wolf was much closer this time, only about half as far as it had been earlier. It was sitting again, head cocked to the side as though curious about something with its mouth open and its tongue out in a canine grin as it panted. And there, sure enough, placed directly in front of it, was a cellphone of the exact same model as my own.

"That can't be mine," I insisted, as I started to dig into my pocket. "I have mine right…" I trailed off as I realized that the familiar weight of my phone was indeed missing and that no matter how much I checked my pockets seemed to be completely empty. "Hey!" I yelped, now frantically patting down my other pocket just to make sure that I hadn't put my cell into the other side by accident. When I discovered that I hadn't just absently misplaced my phone, I made sure to check my school bag as well, though at this point I was pretty sure I was only trying to fool myself. "That IS my phone!"

"That kid must have found it and brought it for Kenichi," Apachai declared, his tone bright as he made his interpretation of the situation.

"Well, well, Ken-chan," the Elder smiled at me. "Looks like your manners paid off after all!"

"Huh," I grunted, honestly a bit surprised by the turn of events. When had I lost my phone? The fight with Seta and Hayami had been short, yes, but it had been intense in its own way as well. Could it have slipped out of my pocket back then? If so, then the phone would have been lost all the way back in the village.

Despite the seeming benevolence of this act, it only served to unnerve me a bit more. The wolf hadn't had the phone earlier, when we had first seen it. That meant that either the wolf had found the phone and simply hidden it earlier when it first appeared, or that the wolf had gone all the way back to the village which was well over a half hour away at this point and then come back in only a few minutes.

This creature was definitely no ordinary animal.

Still, at least it seemed like it was benevolent. With a smile, I bowed to the wolf again, saying a silent prayer of gratitude for its kindness. When I finished I straightened up and took a step towards where the wolf had put my phone.

As though my first step was the sign it was waiting for the wolf suddenly crouched down, snapping up my cell into its tiny jaws. Keeping its head low to the ground, it froze, watching me carefully with its hindquarters up in the air as its tail began to wag slowly. I blinked, surprised at its sudden change in position. When I took a second step up towards the wolf it hopped backwards, raising a step in return and keeping the distance between us the same. Again, with a sense of bemusement, I took another step up and the wolf once more jumped back, its tail starting to wag faster.

"Ah!" Miu chirped, sounding jealous as she took in the sight of the beast's actions. "The puppy wants to play with you, Kenichi-san!"

The wolf barked again, the sound muffled by the phone in its jaws. Playfully, it began to shake its head back and forth, as though the cell was a mouse or a rabbit that it had caught. I took a step towards it, hoping that it wouldn't notice while it was distracted, however the moment my foot came down it froze, its head cocking to the side again. Then, with one more yip it turned to the side and darted off the path into the underbrush.

"My phone!" I yelped in responese, and without realizing what I was doing I took off after the wolf. Maybe it was the innocent nature of the way the wolf had been playing with my phone, but for a moment I actually forgot my earlier caution and without a second thought I found myself chasing the beast as it darted through the woods. It moved quickly, but not too quickly, and despite the way it hopped over logs or darted around the trunks of trees I managed to keep pace with it. It was slippery, but no matter how far it ran I was able to keep pace with it, and despite the fact that the sun was beginning to set, I think I might almost…

Wait. The sun was setting?

As the realization that the sun was indeed starting to make it way beneath the horizon and that the last time I remembered looking at it it was still only midway down in its journey to the west startled me enough for me to stumble slightly. I caught myself before I fell, one hand coming up to rest on the trunk of a nearby tree and it was only then that I realized that I was panting and that sweat had soaked all the way through my white school shirt. The garment clung to me uncomfortably with the moisture, but it wasn't enough to keep my mind from racing.

How long? How long had I been running? How long had I been chasing the wolf? It had felt like only moments, maybe a minute or two at best, but with the change in the position of the sun and the ache in my body it must have been closer to hours. How had I lost that much time?

As I straightened, my breathing finally coming under my control after my mysterious marathon session I caught sight of the wolf once more. It sat further away than it had been during my chase, my phone still clutched in its mouth. However, its head was no longer cocked to the side and its tail was no longer wagging playfully. It was half concealed by the trunk of another tree, the lengthening shadows around it making its outline blurry and indistinct. Despite that though I could see its eyes as they glimmered golden, catching light even in the darkness which concealed the rest of it. As it stood there, not moving, it no longer looked playful or innocent like it did earlier. More than that, its slim frame looked larger than it had before, as though it had grown somehow during the chase.

I felt an involuntary shiver go through me. The wolf was once considered a mystic animal. There were stories of mystic beasts using their powers to possess humans. Kitsunenetsuki, fox-possession, was one of the more famous types, though it was also said that inugami, dog spirits, could do so as well. Most people these days considered the two conditions to be nothing more than superstitious explanations for mental instability, a way to explain things like insanity or fever deliriums by those who had no medical way to explain such things in the past.

Well, it was as good an explanation as any other for what had just happened to me. All things considered, I must have been suffering from temporary insanity to knowingly follow a creature like the wolf away from the safety of my companions and into the wilderness.

And speaking of wilderness…

Where was I?

I didn't recognize any of my surroundings, but that was to be expected. After all, this was the first time I had been on this mountain, and not recognizing a new place was fairly common. The wolf had led me to a clearing, and open field surrounded by tall trees and thick underbrush, the ground unusually flat for being located on a mountain, and though I was fairly certain that I was still on the same mountain as earlier, the circle of trees was tall enough to keep me from being able to see where I was in relation to any of the other mountains in the range.

It wasn't until after I had taken in my surroundings that I glanced back at where the wolf had been only to realize that the beast had disappeared from my sight completely.

I wasn't certain if that made me relieved or just more nervous. On one hand if the wolf had just led me out here in a fit of mischievousness than that meant that I probably wouldn't see the beast again. Considering that all it had done was possess me and drag me into the middle of the wilderness I was perfectly willing to accept its prank and make my way back to civilization on my own, though considering what it had done there was no way I was going to make an offering to it now.

However, if the beast had led me out here as a prelude to something more sinister, than not being able to see the wolf was probably a very bad sign. For instance, it could be behind me right now, sneaking close, getting ready to attack…

The thought sent a shiver down my spine and I whirled, knowing that I was probably just being jumpy but wanting to make sure just in case. When there was nothing behind me, I nearly sighed in relief, before wondering if maybe that was what the wolf had been planning in the first place and that it was now approaching me from what used to be the front….

I whirled again, and still I saw no sight of the wolf. I sighed for real this time, but I despite the rather silly nature of my actions I couldn't bring myself to be ashamed of them. After all, it wasn't paranoia if something really was trying to get you.

"Well," I thought, "at least I've been studying different types of edible plants. There's no way I'm going to starve again, not like in the black forest with the Elder."

I nodded at the thought, before I froze. "Wait," I thought again. "Aren't I just thinking? Why am I hearing it out loud…"

It was only thanks to the training of the Elder that I managed to move on time. During my training for the Seikuuken the Elder had made it a point to engrave awareness into my body. It had been a cruel and painful process, mostly involving him hitting me with a club from behind over and over again, but the end result had been that my body had learned how to anticipate strikes which came from the rear instinctively. It was that awareness which caused me to throw myself forward, almost before my conscious thoughts had caught up with me. I spun as I leapt, rolling across the ground in one smooth motion as a thunderous crash came from where I had been standing only seconds ago, and even as I regained my footing I was facing the threat which had just appeared.

I had honestly thought that what I would find myself facing would be the wolf. Instead, the sight before me was enough to make me freeze.

It reminded me vaguely of a monkey due to its general body shape, though considering its size it might be more accurate to say it resembled a gorilla considering that it stood nearly as tall as I did. Its legs were a bit short and its arms a bit too long, its knuckles dragging across the ground as it hunched with a fist buried right where I had been standing a moment ago. It had dark fur, matted and course looking with small twigs and other debris typical of a forest caught in it at various places. Despite the somewhat reminiscent nature of its shape, there was no way that I would mistake this thing for a natural creature. Its fur covered its entire body for one thing, not like gorillas that had mostly furless chests and stomachs.

That and the fact that it barely had a head to speak of.

It was as though the creature had no neck whatsoever, or if it did that its shoulders were just so large that they concealed it completely. There was a small rounding between its shoulders reminiscent of the shape of the top of a head, but it was as though that appendage had been melted down until it dripped over the creatures shoulders and chest. It did have a face, the only part of the creature that wasn't covered with that matted fur, but the eyes were small, far too small, looking almost insect-like with their dark and beady shape. It had no nose whatsoever, not even having the flat slits that some animals used for their snouts, as though it was simply a creature that had never had an olfactory sense whatsoever. It did have a mouth, but it was far too large and located too far down, nearly reaching the center of the thing's barrel like chest. It was circular too, and lined with small flat teeth. The best way I could think to describe the creature's maw was as though it was a squid's beak lined with molars instead of sharper teeth.

"What is that?" the beast in front of me said in a voice which was identical to my own. "A sasquatch? A yeti? The abominable snowman? The missing link? The Hibagon?" The thing spoke quickly, so fast it should be impossible to understand it and yet somehow its words were perfectly clear. "Wait," it continued, "why is does it sound just like me?"

Even as the realization that the thing was speaking, more than that, that the thing was speaking with MY voice, while an even more chilling realization that the thing was apparently speaking my very THOUGHTS nearly simultaneously as I thought them, the thing attacked. I was so stunned by the suddenness, as well as the sheer bizarreness, of the thing's dialogue that I only belatedly realized that it had launched itself into a charge at me. It covered the ground with an apelike gait, using its long arms to help propel its shorter feet along, moving surprisingly fast for a thing of its size. I was barely able to get my hands up and crossed in front of me when it swung one of its ham sized fists at me, the force of it nearly numbing my arms as it sent me skidding backwards across the clearing. It was only thanks to the insane balance training my Master's had put me through that kept me from tumbling to the ground.

"Damn," the thing added, even as it resumed its charge, closing the distance it had put between the two of us nearly as fast as it was made. "That thing hit like a ton of bricks! There's no way I can take too many of those blows." Even as it prepared itself for another swing, it paused, its wide mouth opening and closing as it spoke, a motion that looked more like something being twisted opened and shut than opened and closed like a normal mouth. "I'll have to dodge it, to the right, and then it should leave itself open to a kick."

Even as I realized that the plan that had been forming in my head was currently being voiced the creature was already moving. Instead of a wide swing like it had given earlier its long arm jabbed instead, a quick and lighter motion, and even though I deflected it by the time my leg was in motion it already had its other arm up, its long strong fingers closing around my ankle.

"Wait," the thing said again, even as it tightened its grip on my leg. "Is that thing really reading my mind? As in real time? And it's using that to know exactly what I'm about to do while I'm fighting it? Ah hell. It's a Satori, isn't it?"

Even as the thing finished saying my thoughts out loud, it paused, and I swore I could see emotion in its beady eyes, a sort of sadistic amusement at my plight. For the first time it made a noise that wasn't spoken in my voice, a long drawn out chattering noise, a sound that only served to reinforce its apelike impression.

And then it picked me up by the leg it was holding and pulled me over its body to slam me face first into the ground with all the strength its thick limbs could manage.

If the thing managed to complete the attack, there was no telling how much damage I would take. Desperatelly I arched my back ,twisting in its grip so that I could get both my hands and my free foot beneath me, leaving me in a back bend position, my hands aching from having to absorb the force of the throw. If I had been a normal person then the sheer viciousness and force behind the graceless attack would have ended the fight then and there.

"Good thing I'm not a normal person," the Satori commented, my voice sounding smug as it left its maw, before it jumped back, letting go of my ankle in time to get its own hand clear as my other foot cut through the air where its fingers would have been only seconds ago. "Akisame-sensei throws me way harder than that all the time, and compared to Apachai's punches that was nothing!" The thing leapt back, getting clear just in time as I swung both my legs in a wide sweeping arc designed to catch opponents while on the ground while simultaneously propelling the kicker to their feet. "And Ma-sensei taught me how to get space to stand if I get knocked down!"

Even as I recovered my footing I brought both my hands up in front of me in my customary ready position. The Satori chittered at me again, but didn't press its attack. Instead it slapped the ground in front of it as it hopped in place, chattering again, this time in what seemed to me like irritation as it narrowed its eyes at me.

"This is so unfair," the creature told me as it began to circle me. "I finally come across a Kai which I can fight using my Martial Arts, and it's the one type of creature that Martial Arts are almost useless against!" Even as it paced around me, its rolling gait slow and ominous, I made sure to keep it in my sights. "I'm lucky that this is happening in a clearing at least. If the Satori had attacked me in the woods then it would have the advantage of terrain and maneuverability. Here it has to face me head on. It's strong, yeah, but nowhere near as strong as some of the Masters I've seen. Probably stronger than Disciple class though. Now, Sakaki-sensei always says you should start with the first move…"

I had barely taken the first step forward so that I could throw a tentative punch at the Satori before it had already begun to scuttle backwards, lowering itself to the ground as it set itself back out of range of my kick. I nearly threw the kick anyway, just as a method to get the fight rolling before the Satori continued speaking in my voice.

"If I throw the first kick, then as long as it doesn't try to close with me I should be fine," it mused as it braced itself, arms digging into the earth as it pulled its body weight back. "Wait! That stance… it must be getting ready to charge right after the first kick! But if it does that then my only option would be to use jujitsu to try and pin it. But with that kind of arm strength and its strange proportions then there's no guarantee that usual moves would work."

Even as the creature finished rattling off my train of thought it started to attack, pushing off with its back legs as it dug in with its arms. I braced myself, my mind racing furiously like it only does in the midst of a death match as I tried to find a way to counter the creatures unusual shape. The Satori made it only a foot before it suddenly stopped its charge, nearly falling over as it used its arms to halt its momentum.

"It has to be Muy Thai then!" it declared, my voice firm from its twisted mouth. "With limbs like that it would have trouble infighting! If I manage to land a good Kao Loi, a jumping knee, in on a rush, then I could get the initiative, and it if tries to punch I could counter with Shock Club, a spinning elbow."

Instead of closing though, the Satori instead backed off again, and this time I was certain that the chattering noise was angry as it glared at me, hunching over and slapping the ground once more in frustration. Despite myself, I felt one of my own eyes twitch as well.

"You know," the thing said with my own irritation present in its voice as it did so. "Fighting something that can read your mind is totally unfair." It dug its fingers into the ground as it tore up clods of dirt, almost spitefully throwing them at me as it did so. I barely moved to dodge them, not taking my attention of the ape like thing for a second. "Is this what it's like when Masters fight? An Attack Trail Battle where both sides can see every possible combination and can't do anything until they have an attack that they know the other Master won't be able to stop? But that won't work here. The Satori will be able to tell exactly what I'm planning, and be able to counter anything I can think of as soon as I think of it!"

This had all the markings of a long battle just waiting to happen, and the thought was not comforting to me. It was already starting to get late out, and I had no idea how much longer daylight was going to last. The tall trees that surrounded the clearing kept me from accurately judging how much longer I had until full sunset, and those same trees were already starting to cast darker and darker shadows across the clearing. As it stood now the Satori was a dangerous creature, yeah, but not one I couldn't beat. It was a lot stronger and a lot faster than a normal person could deal with, but I had been training for almost a year and a half now and under the guidance of the Masters of Ryouzanpaku and I was a lot more powerful than most people these days. Judging from the way the Satori was keeping its distance and fighting cautiously it seemed to know that as well and hopefully its caution meant that it was aware that I could hurt it if I needed to.

"Maybe this whole thing can be resolved peacefully," the creature mused, and even I couldn't help but notice the doubtful tone of voice my thoughts had to them. "After all, the way this fight was going either one of us could come out the victor. But…" the creature's beady eyes shrank as the heavy ridges of its eyebrows narrowed. "But is it alright for me to let this thing go? It did try to attack me, after all, and considering what it is, it could be a danger to other travelers too. That is why I started Martial Arts after all: so that I wouldn't have to turn a blind eye to the evils of the world anymore, and so that I could defend those who needed it."

The creature started to get more agitated, thumping the earth and increasing the rate at which it started throwing clods of dirt at me. I blocked them easily, one hand nearly flickering as the same Seikuuken training that had saved me before allowed me to note their paths almost instinctively.

"Normally I don't like starting fights," my thoughts continued, "but this might be one that's worth getting into. It can react to my thoughts, yeah, but it takes it a bit of time." The Satori gave an angry chatter at the end of that sentence as it began to realize just what I was planning. "If we get into a fight, then it might have the advantage early, but once things start getting heated then more and more of my movements are going to be instinctual. It wasn't able to stop me from dodging before on its first attack because my body just moved on its own. It's a reckless fight," and from the way the Satori went still as I felt a grim smile start forming on my own unmoving lips it seemed to realize what was about to happen, "but Sakaki-sensei always said he approved of reckless fights…"

As though reacting to my thoughts, the Satori stilled and hunched over, planting both of its fists on the ground again as it prepared itself. As it did so I too was getting ready, raising both my hands into my customary attack position as I set my legs shoulder length for maximum utility. I found myself strangely relaxed as I did so. Years ago, the thought of fighting a demon, a youkai, head on would have set me to shivering. That was back when the only advantage I had going for me was the unnatural leftovers of my first encounter with the Kai. Back then that small advantage had been enough for me to survive most of my dangerous encounters relatively intact. Now though, I had a new advantage, one which had been drilled into me with compassionate cruelty by my Masters at Ryouzanpaku.

Now it was my own fists, my own power, I could depend on instead of the remnants of an unpleasant death.

At some unseen signal, the two of us launched ourselves forward, intending to settle this fight with brutal directness. The Satori would have the advantage early on, yeah, but then again that was usually the case with me. My Masters and friends had all long since noticed that I was a slow starter when it came to fights, and while that could be dangerous at times I was also particularly good at taking blows early on as well. With Sakaki and Apachai constantly dealing damage to me and effectively training my organs to be tougher than a normal persons as well as with Akisame's insane body development plan which had left me with unusually compact and tough muscles I was betting on me being able to weather the initial storm before I finally got the chance to put this creature down…

At least that was the plan until halfway through the charge the things mouth opened and more words came out. "Yes! A fight! I bet I'll look really cool if I swoop in to save Kenichi-kun right about…now!"

It wasn't my voice that the thing was speaking in. It actually took me a second to recognize the new tone, and when I finally did I was so surprised that I actually tripped, nearly falling face first as the realization spread through me. Luckily for me, that was the exact moment that the creature threw itself bodily to the side in order to avoid a rain of silver death as kunai, shuriken, and a few sickles traced a line directly through where it had been standing only seconds ago.

"S-S-Shigure-san?" I choked out as the prodigy of all weaponry landed directly in front of me, her enormous katana already drawn as she appeared as though from nowhere. It wasn't so much surprise at her appearing which caused me to stutter. If anything, in retrospect it seemed obvious that she would arrive as she did. She was the Master of Ryouzanpaku that knew the most about my secrets, after all, and she had already been on guard for the Oddities the moment I had bowed to the wolf. I wasn't quite certain how she had found me, true, though she did have a long standing habit of appearing out of nowhere right when things started to get tense.

Instead, my surprise had more to do with the way the Satori was speaking in her voice. Even as I gaped, the beast continued to chatter almost too quickly for me to make out the words, faster even then when it had been speaking my thoughts.

"I thought I was going to miss this completely," Shigure's voice continued, sounding exasperated in a way I could never recall having heard the actual woman ever speak. "When that stupid wolf-god thingy showed up and stole Kenichi-kun I was so worried! I mean, I hardly ever get to look cool in front of my Disciple. That's so unfair! Whenever Kenichi-kun needs help Akisame or Sakaki always get to step up and look awesome, but whenever I try Kenichi-kun always just ignores me! Even now that we get to do things together I always seem to mess up! Stupid tengu. Stupid kappa. Anyway, I wonder what this thing is? Man, it sure is ugly. I should ask Kenichi-kun. He always seems to know. But how should I ask without looking stupid? I don't want Kenichi-kun to think badly of me. Maybe I should pretend I already know? But then I would be lying to my Disciple, and that would be bad."

I gaped as the tirade continued, not quite sure what to make of this development. To my ever growing disbelief, despite the way Shigure was standing calmly in front of me, sword drawn and ready, her expression implacable as always, the Satori just continued to chatter. I was so distracted that I couldn't even think of trying to take advantage of its downed state as it continued to right itself back to a combat ready position.

"Maybe I should be nonchalant about asking?" Shigure's voice continue to muse, sounding as though she was deep in thought as she did so. "Something like, 'So, Kenichi, what is it this time?' But no, that might seem too cold. Maybe I should go with, 'So it looks like you need your Master again, eh Kenichi?' But isn't that not encouraging enough? And now I'm starting to take too long, and it's going to look like I'm just not interested! Say something, Shigure, say anything!"

"Kenichi," the real Shigure finally spoke, her tone as slow as it usually was when she turned to me, pointing at the Satori slowly with her free hand. "That is…what?"

"'Kenichi, that is... what?'" the beast chattered immediately after, and this version of Shigure sounded like it was wailing in mortification. "'Kenichi, that is…what?' How am I supposed to be a Master if I keep saying things that sound so stupid? Stupid, Shigure! Stupid, stupid, stupid!" The beast paused, before Shigure's voice continued again, this time sounding apprehensive. "Wait. Why does it feel like I'm thinking out loud? I'm not actually talking, am I?"

It was mixed blessings at this point that the Satori was present. I honestly didn't think that I would be able to do anything besides gape at the quiet swordswoman for at least another minute. Despite that, the Satori spoke up again, this time in my voice.

"It's a Satori," it noted for me, my tone dispassionately clinical despite my inability to move my actual mouth. "A mountain Kai, said to resemble a cross between a monkey and a man. It has the power to see through the minds of travelers and once it has it attacks, speaking the travelers' thoughts in order to confuse them and make them easier prey. Some people say that they're just normal Yokai, but in other legends they're said to be the corrupted children of the mountain gods. There are also other legends about how they won't attack those who actually live on mountains, and that it's possible to live in peace with them, but since this one's already tried to kill me I think we can ignore those particular legends."

The Satori paused, but despite the silence its eyes looked amused. "Also," it added, still in my voice but now mixed with disbelief and some of the shock I was actually feeling. "What the hell?"

"It can read minds?" Shigure's voice came out this time, with a note of panic in them even as the actual Shigure continued to stand stock still, her face with its usual calm expression. "So that means if I think about how annoyed I am that Kenichi-kun never seems to treat me like an actual Master then it will know?" There was a pause, and then the Satori continued. This time, Shigure's voice spoke with a sort of resigned decisiveness. "Alright. It seems I have no choice. As a Katsujin Ken, I have sworn not to kill. However, for daring to reveal the private thoughts of an innocent maiden like me I have no choice but to punish this bad thing. I shall now proceed to beat it to within an inch of its life."

The Satori suddenly seemed to be a great deal more nervous than it was a second ago, the smug amusement in its eyes faded as it no doubt caught sight of just what Shigure was capable of while reading her mind.

Wisely, the creature was already starting to run when the first barrage of sharp point things came within an inch of leaving it bereft of a large portion of its skin. It only just managed to catch itself again on its too long arms before it flipped over, another move that was reminiscent of its apelike shape as it tossed itself out of the way of Shigure's sword as it cleaved the air where it had been seconds ago. Yes, the creature was fast, seeing as it wasn't human, but despite its unnatural advantage it was still being pressed as it was forced to dodge again and again as Shigure, calm face present, assaulted it fiercely.

It was probably only thanks to the creatures ability to read minds that it managed to do so well, and even then it was an entirely different ballgame from when it had been confronting me. I was only a Disciple class fighter, after all. Even if I had the skills to match the Satori it was still able to see my thoughts and react in time. However, for a Master, whose body possessed far greater speed and strength than that of a Disciple, it looked like the gap between thought and movement was a lot shorter. Consequentially a fight that had developed into a near stalemate when I had been doing it was turning steadily into a full route when Shigure stepped up.

Despite that though, it looked as though the battle itself was far from over. Even if the Satori was only barely staying ahead of Shigure's blades it looked like the beast was a bit more wily than I had given it credit for.

"Mou," its twisted maw spouted, once more using Shigure's voice as it did so. The sound it made was a delicate noise of female exasperation I would have expected more from Renka or Miu then from Shigure. "Why won't it stand still so I can hurt it? I can't believe it would say something so embarrassing! Now it's going to be even harder to impress Kenichi-kun! He must think I'm some kind of strange girl after hearing things like that! Why can't things ever go my way for once? Everyone else has been having so much fun sense Kenichi-kun came, but despite that whenever I try to join in he always runs away. I just want to show him how to hit a moving target with a throwing star at a hundred yards away, or maybe teach him how to cut all the vital places on a human body with the back of a sword in an instant. Is that so bad?"

I was exceedingly thankful that the Satori was too busy reading Shigure's mind to repeat the very clear thought of 'yes, it really is that bad' that went through my head after hearing Shigure's mental diatribe. I was finally managing to recover from the shock of hearing just how much Shigure seemed to think after all, and I had little doubt that if she actually heard my response to her train of thought than I might end up having to dodge just as much as the Satori was currently doing.

Despite the running commentary that it was continuing to deliver, it looked like the beast itself was currently trying to run plans of its own. Most of its dodges looked as though they were trying to get the yokai out of the clearing and back into the woods where its apelike body would help grant it greater mobility. Despite its efforts, Shigure looked as though she wasn't going to allow it that chance.

It was almost belatedly that I realized that out of all the thoughts that the Satori was pulling from Shigure's head most had absolutely nothing to do with where or how she was going to strike at the Satori. When it had been me facing off against the Satori most of my thoughts had been on what punch or kick I was going to use, or what style would be best for what situation. Shigure was apparently fighting well enough to press the thing without even having to consciously think about it at all.

Sometimes Master class fighters frightened me just a little bit. I would find myself beginning to think of them as just ordinary people, albeit stronger than most, and then I would come face to face with something which once more forced me to realize just how utterly terrifying Masters truly were at times.

"But despite that, Kenichi-kun still won't let me teach him anything," the Satori lamented, in the middle of throwing itself at the dirt in the center of the clearing in order to avoid a particularly vicious strike by the swordswomen. "Whenever I try to teach him something he just runs away! Even when he's fighting against other weapon users, he just goes to Sakaki or Akisame or Ma. Why? Am I that scary? Apachai always hits Kenichi-kun way harder than I do, but despite that Kenichi doesn't have any problems going to him for help either. The only time I get to do anything with Kenichi-kun is when I need to scare him or something, or when he's worried about having to deal with a Yami Master, or when we're about to go fight something icky like this Sato-whatever-it-is. Do I even count as his Master?"

The Satori was talking so fast at this point that it should be impossible to make out individual words, and yet despite that I was able to understand everything it was saying. It was because of that understanding that even in the middle of getting ready to join the attack I paused, unable to believe what I was hearing. Was… Was that really what Shigure thought?

Even in the middle of a fierce battle while simultaneously occupied with apparent self-recriminations, Shigure once more proved just how observant Master class fighters were.

"Oh no! Kenichi-kun flinched!" her voice gasped out of the Satori's mouth. "He can hear exactly what I'm thinking! Oh, this is so embarrassing!" The blunt revelation of her private thoughts was apparently enough to distract the weapons prodigy, because even if no expression showed on her face, one of her fierce attacks seemed to falter, her sword slowing marginally as it cut at the Satori.

And that was probably just what the Satori was waiting for. For all its bestial appearance, it looked like the Satori had an intellect which surpassed just that of animal cunning. While Shigure was distracted, her attention focused more on the revelation of her thoughts and my reaction to them, it finally managed to lash out, a move which lacked a great deal of power seeing as it was a punch thrown while it was in the middle of a flip to try and keep itself out of the way of Shigure's feminine wrath, but a move that still connected anyway.

"Oof," for the second time Shigure's real voice emerged as the weapon user grunted from the blow to her chest. It wasn't much of a hit, that much I was certain of. The creature had only been able to rattle me when it landed a full powered strike earlier, after all, and Shigure was a Master with a body far tougher than my own. But it was enough to cause her to retreat slightly, hopping back both to help diminish the strike as well as to prevent any counter attack. The space worked both for her and against her though. Yes, it kept her from falling into any further attacks by the Satori, but it also gave the Satori space of its own too.

Space which was just enough for the Satori to implement its own plan of action: running away. Without waiting for Shigure to even reach the ground after she had hopped the monster was already turning towards the edge of the clearing, planting its arms into the ground to help propel it towards either the advantage the trees would give it in combat or the safety they would provide for flight.

"No!" I shouted, speaking with my own voice as well as the only sound the Satori made was that monkey chattering it only seemed to use when it wasn't reading minds. If the thing got away, than yeah, that would be the end of the fight and Shigure and I would probably be able to get off the mountain with no problem. But it was like I had decided earlier: this was clearly a monster with a liking for attacking humans. If we let it escape, then it would probably have the chance to hunt again, and probably its next victims wouldn't be as capable as both Shigure and I were.

I didn't know precisely what I was going to do if I caught the thing, seeing as I didn't think either Shigure or I would actually kill it. Yeah, it was dangerous, but then again we were both members of the Katsujin Ken too. But even if we only beat it to within an inch of its life like Shigure had decided earlier, than that might serve as a good enough warning to the Satori to keep it from venturing near human habitation for a while.

And if that didn't work, well, there were other options as well. Kushinada had developed quite an interest in the Kai recently, and she probably wouldn't have the same reservations that we did when it came to dealing with problems like this…

The Satori turned its torso slightly as the thought went through my head, and its angry chattering increased as its eyes narrowed at me. That was as far as it got before it had to dodge again, once more leaping out of the way of a rain of sharp and pointy death as Shigure rejoined the fight as well. It looked like the weapons prodigy had also realized that the youkai was trying to escape, and had aimed her attacks in order to force the Satori to leap backwards towards the center of the clearing.

The end result of the movement forced the Satori to a position that was directly between myself and Shigure, and the creature seemed to realize just how much danger it was in at this point, once more pounding the ground beside it angrily. Its torso twitched as it shook itself back and forth, not having a proper head to turn so that it could look between the Master and the Disciple which had cornered it.

Despite that though, when the thing's eyes met mine, there was once more that sense of amused malice in them. It's twisted jaw spun open, and again it began to voice thoughts it had no right to share.

"Ouch," Shigure's voice sounded more annoyed than it did in pain. "Not the breasts again! Why do I always end up getting hit or cut on the breasts? Does that ever happen to Sakaki or Akisame? No! Does Ma or the Elder ever have to worry about that kind of thing? No! I feel sorry for Miu-chan sometimes. If things keep going like they have for her, then hers might end up even bigger than mine. And the worst part is I can't even bind them, not without that interfering with my chainmail. Stupid breasts. What are they good for anyway?"

Even as the creature spoke, so fast that it should be incomprehensible, as fast as she was thinking, Shigure moved again. With the Satori pinched between us, it looked like my Master had decided to forgo the use of her various throwing weapons. Instead, she decided to use her sword, her weapon a blur of silver in the ever dying light of the sunset. Even as she struck, driving the creature back towards me, the thing still managed to dodge the worst of the blows being rained down on it.

I'd like to say that I was helping at this point, that I was rushing to help my Master as she fought against a monster. I wasn't though. I was still in my fighting position, holding my ground. I'd like to say I was doing so because I was standing ready to help Shigure in case the Satori tried to escape by rushing towards me.

However, what I'd like to say and what the Satori said for me were two different things.

"Why did Shigure have to bring up breasts?" the Satori moaned, sounding as plaintive as it spoke in my voice. "I know this is a life or death struggle, and that I should be concentrating. But now I can't stop myself from looking at them! They're huge, for god's sake! And she doesn't bind them when she's fighting either! I mean, it's like watching two cats wrestling in a sack! How on earth does she fight when they're bouncing like that?" My voice paused, and then it continued, this time in a tone of abject horror. "Oh god, and the Satori just said that out loud. Now I'm going to die. The middle of a fight is NOT the time to be staring at boobies, and definitely not when those boobies belong to your Master. And referring to your Master's breasts as boobies is doubly NOT the thing to do!"

Despite the fierceness of her attacks, when Shigure heard my thoughts she paused, and the Satori used that briefest of moments to launch a counter attack. Even though she managed to dodge the clumsy swing easily, it once more left the Satori with space, space it used to plant itself firmly, arms bent as they clutched the moist soil of the clearing before it launched itself, swinging wildly at my Master as it tried to brute force its way through her defense. Even as it did so, it continued to speak, its tone once more switching to Shigure's.

"Kenichi-kun was staring at my breasts?" Even as I winced at the clear statement revealing that my Master was now fully aware of my wandering eye, I wasn't quite sure what the tone of her thoughts was. Before I could identify it, the Satori continued. "Yes!" Shigure's thoughts exalted, sounding entirely too pleased by the revelation. "That's twice in one day that I was treated as a woman! First by that Hongou, then by Kenichi-kun! Wait, does this one count? Kenichi-kun is my Disciple after all…Wait! Kenichi-kun called himself my Disciple! So he really does think of me as a Master! Wait, he's my Disciple and he was staring at my chest. What should I do now, as a Master? Should I scold him? Or tease him? Agh! Being a Master is so hard!" And then Shigure's voice paused, as her conscious thought also managed to catch up with what was going on in the real world. In a tone filled with mortification once more, Shigure thought, "Why does this thing keep revealing all my embarrassing secrets? Kyah! This is so humiliating."

Even as the Satori was spouting its rapid pace monologue, it was continuing to attack. It was when Shigure hesitated again, right after the creature was describing her discomfort with its revelations, and one of the Satori's fists managed to get past her sword and making a brushing contact with my Master's chest again in a blow that could have been dangerous if it connected that I realized just what the thing was trying to do. Even as I launched myself forward, finally recovering from my own blush worthy revelation the creature turned enough for me to meet its sadistic eyes.

"That's it!" the creature announced, using my voice again as it lifted my thoughts from my head. "That's what it's trying to do! That's why it keeps switching back and forth between Shigure and me. It's trying to distract us enough for it to either escape or win. That must be why it's focusing on embarrassing thoughts and then saying the other person's response to them. And that's why it's saying these thoughts right now! We have to finish it right away, quick! Man, this thing is smarter than it looks!"

Even as I tried to land a blow on the creature, forcing it back from Shigure, I could see its beady eyes narrow at the backhanded insult I had just given it. Despite that, it managed to pull away in time, my fist only clipping it as it tried to dart away from between the two of us. Shigure was having none of it though, and moved quickly to cut off its retreat.

"You're not getting away that easily!" Shigure's thoughts snapped at the Satori, even as it was once more reduced to dodging. "Not after what you've done!" Then her thoughts paused, and when they continued they had confusion lacing them. "But if it's just trying to embarrass us so it can take advantage of it, why is that so bad? Why is Kenichi in such a rush to stop it? And why would it let Kenichi reveal its plan as well? Now that we know, it's not like we'll be surprised by it. "

It was my turn to dodge as the Satori managed to get out of way of Shigure's sword in time, placing me directly in its escape route. Bulling forward, I swung under its first punch, and got my guard up in time for the second.

"Because now that we know it wants embarrassing secrets, we're going to keep thinking about them!" the Satori not so kindly revealed my thoughts of its plan. "It's not like we can just stop thinking about something just because we want to. It's like when someone tells you not to think about a pink elephant, the first thing you think of is naturally going to be a pink elephant!"

"Huh," Shigure's thoughts sounded vaguely amused. "A pink elephant… Yeah, that's kind of cute actually… No! Wait! That's just what Kenichi means! Now that I know I'm not supposed to think about things that will embarrass me, it's natural that I will. Like how I always invite him in when I'm undressed just to tease him! Or like how I sometimes watch him while he sleeps!"

Mid swing after that particular revelation, just as the Satori planned, Shigure actually froze up for a second, and the beast which she had been about to strike took advantage of that, landing another of its powerful blows against my guard and sending me skidding backwards.

"I knew it!" I thought through the Satori's mouth. "I knew she was doing it on purpose! It's not like she normally just goes around showing off her body! She refused to wear a bikini when Miu offered because she thought it was indecent, after all, and she always gets mad at Ma whenever he tries to take naughty pictures! I knew she was just doing that to tease me!" Then my voice paused, and in a disbelieving tone continued. "…She watches me while I sleep?"

"It's not like that!" Shigure's thoughts were a wail and I was treated to the very rare sight of the usually implacable swordswomen's cheeks reddening slightly as she actually blushed. "It's just that sometimes Kenichi runs away, so every once in a while we check on him to make sure he hasn't disappeared in the night! And when it's my turn sometimes I start thinking about how I want to be a good Master, and how happy I am to have a Disciple, and then…" And just like that Shigure cut her own thoughts off. "No!" her voice snapped, and this time they sounded angry. "No, I'm not going to do this. Pink elephant. Pink elephant. Pink elephant pink elephant pinkelephantpink-"

The Satori stopped the litany when it began to pick up speed, though it continued to attack me with renewed fury. When it spoke again, this time it was my thoughts it was voicing.

"Is she actually controlling what she's thinking?" I wondered, my thoughts a mix of outrage and awe. "That is so unfair! How can someone actually physically control their own thoughts? And despite the fact that she's only thinking about pink elephants she's still able to fight! That is so unreal. Why is that Master class fighters are always breaking the laws of physics? And it won't even work for me! I still need to think about what I'm doing in order to fight."

The Satori knew it too. It was a habit of mine, developed when I started training in the Ryuusei Seikuuken, the next level of the Seikuuken, but whenever I fought an opponent I always made sure to look them in the eye in order to help discern what they were feeling so I could anticipate their next move. And what I saw in the Satori's eyes was desperation. Now that Shigure had managed to find a counter to its plan to make us shame ourselves enough for it to escape it knew that I was the weakest link here, and that it was running out of time.

"Ugh!" my thoughts snapped as it struck at me again, a fierce double handed hammer blow which nearly drove me to my knees with its power. "This is just so unfair! I have to think about defending, but I'm also trying not to think about embarrassing things! And I'm a Sei fighter too! It's my nature to overthink things! Alright, let's try this, just like my Master. Pink elephant... Pink elephant... Pink elephant… Dodge! Pink elephant… Pink elephant.. Pink- Now! Hit!"

I was trying to juggle three completely separate trains of thought and it wasn't working as well as I hoped. Shigure was closing back in on the Satori's back, but with her now deliberately consuming her own thoughts with a distraction it was showing in her fighting skills. She was still at a level higher than me, but her movements were less coordinated as she trusted in her own body instincts rather than her thought process to direct her blows. The creature was having an easier time dodging her attacks, and it was using that new leeway to force me closer and closer to the edge of the clearing. I tried to hold firm, but new sweat was starting to break out over my body as I struggled under the duress of trying to control my own thoughts while fighting.

"Pink elephant… Pink elephant… Shigure's loincloth… No!" It was my turn to sport a blush as my thoughts betrayed me. After the unexpected mental conversation about my Master's body I was somewhat more aware than usual of her physical state, and the short kimono that Shigure tended to favor did little to conceal certain parts of her when she was in the middle of physical activity. "This is ridiculous!" my thoughts snapped as the mental strain started to catch up with me. "It's taking everything I have not to think about embarrassing things or worse, like what happened to Senjougahara and Kanbaru. And if I think of them then I'm going to think about Hanekawa as well, and once I start thinking about them, it's only a matter of time before I think of Shin-hrk!"

It wasn't as though my thoughts cut off at that moment. It was the Satori who added the last little 'hrk' on its own accord.

My fist buried deep in the flesh directly below its strange mouth might have helped with that though.

"Don't you dare say their names," I hissed, my eyes narrowed as I shot a look of murder into the shocked Satori's eyes. I didn't remember stepping in, or dodging its clumsy yet powerful attacks. I didn't remember throwing the fierce uppercut which had lifted the heavy creature off the ground and folded it around my fist. I didn't remember when the haze of red had set in, tinting my sight and forcing my breath to turn shallow as I panted in rage.

Which, in retrospect was probably why I had managed to surprise the Satori so completely. It was said that unexpected events could surprise the creature which was so used to simply just knowing what its opponent was planning to do. The way my body had reacted without conscious effort to shut up the creature which had ventured into thoughts it had no right to touch probably counted as 'unexpected enough'. However, at that exact moment I couldn't bring myself to care, seeing as the only thought which was crossing my head at the moment was shutting the damned thing up.

The creature stumbled when I pulled my fist out, and I wasn't certain if the blow had somehow managed to knock the air out of its lungs, or if it even had lungs for that matter. It didn't have a nose, after all, and it spoke so fast and for so long I wasn't even certain that it was using air to form words. Maybe it was just recovering from the pain of my punch. Either way, it didn't react in time as my body, still fueled by that haze of rage that the creature's words had inspired, continued to do what had been drilled into it endlessly.

"Yamazuki!" I shouted, burying one fist back into the creature's gut and the other into the misshapen form of its head. "Kao Loi!" The hand at its head clinched around the unusually small mount and I dragged its torso down into my knee. As it stumbled backwards, reeling from the assault I lunged, grasping its leg with both hands and burying my head into its torso beside its enormous mouth. "Ugyouhaito!" Still holding its leg I straightened, and with a final shout of, "Kuchiki Taoshi!" I finished the combo that my bad friend Niijima had pretentiously named 'The Strongest Combo' and sent the Satori crashing to the ground of the clearing. I stood over it, panting with my fury, fists clenched so tight that I think I might have been cutting my palms with my nails. It was taking everything I had to calm down, everything I had not to press my attack on the downed enemy, to drive my feet into it and hurt it until my rage abated itself.

The Satori seemed to recognize the struggle that was going through my head, and it wisely didn't try to voice my thoughts as it let loose a shrill chattering, its too long limbs scrabbling at the dirt beneath it as it tried to push itself away from me, to get some distance from the one who had hurt it so much.

Then it froze. Even its chattering stopped as it went as still as a statue. It only lasted for a moment before it started shaking; a full body shake which didn't look like any conscious attempt at the creature to do anything productive. Instead, just lying there, its jaws opened one more time.

"Well," the voice that came out of the creature's maw wasn't mine or Shigure's. It was too deep, almost a rumble that seemed set to a vibration which seemed to rattle my bones. "That wasn't quite what I was expecting. Still, I suppose I can work with this."

Standing directly above the head of the Satori, was the wolf. Its head wasn't cocked, and its tail wasn't wagging. Its body was still and it was wrapped in the growing shadows so thickly that it looked more like a silhouette, an outline of a statue carved out of obsidian. The only color I could make out on it was its eyes, and I couldn't even lie to myself that the gold color present there was just a trick of the light, a reflection of the sunset. Its eyes were too bright, the color too strong.

And in one bite, the wolf devoured the Satori whole.

It was a sight I couldn't understand. The wolf was too small, its jaws too tiny to eat something so big, and yet when they stretched wide enough to do just that it didn't look as though they were distended in the least. Despite that, the wolf's teeth flashed ivory in the darkness of its body, and closed around the Satori as it began to shriek with its monkey like voice for an instant before the sound was cut off with the clacking noise of fangs settling against fangs.

I stared at the creature, tumbling backwards to put space between it and me, falling to the ground as I tried to get away faster than my feet could move. This wasn't just an 'ookami' as in a wolf. This was an 'Oo-Kami' as in it was a Great God, the lord of this mountain.

And when the wolf turned those golden eyes on me, still not moving, still just a dark statue with bright eyes and white teeth I realized that not only was I in the presence of a God, but that I was in the presence of a God that devoured those who fell in its presence.

And that I had just stumbled in front of it.

"Please," I begged, my voice a whisper as pure terror doused the hot rage that had been in me just seconds ago, cold fear now the only thing I could feel. "Please, don't eat me."

The wolf looked at me, its eyes judging as it weighed my feeble mortal existence with the sight of a creature which was in no way mortal or feeble itself. It was only for a moment, but it was one of those moments which carried on, and on, a second that stretched into eternity as I stood far closer to death than I had in a very, very long time.

Then the God snorted, and just like that it was only a small wolf which was sitting in front of me, its tiny pink tongue darting out of its snout so that it could lick its chop daintily.

"Well," the wolf told me, the deep bass sound of its voice the same as the last voice the Satori had spoken with. "You might be an abomination. But at least you're a polite abomination." Standing from its seated position, the wolf turned, taking a few steps towards the edge of the clearing before pausing and looking over its shoulders back at me. "Well, come along than, Wicked Blossom. I'll lead you and your bitch back to your pack."

I couldn't keep the deep whoosh of air escaping as I gasped my relief at having been spared, suddenly aware of the third layer of sweat I had been covered in, this one cold, and of the way all the muscles in my body relaxed from a tension I hadn't even noticed. My nerves were so frayed by just those few moments while staring at the god in its full glory that I had completely forgotten that I wasn't alone in that clearing and when Shigure appeared out of nowhere, coming down from where she had jumped over me so she could put herself between me and the wolf with her sword bare, I actually yelped in surprise.

"Are you… alright?" my Master asked me, tension actually present in her voice as kept her eyes locked on the back of the waiting god. It looked as though she too had seen just what the god had done to the Satori and if I had to hazard a guess I would say it probably unnerved her every bit as much as it did me.

"Oh put that away," the wolf told her, sounding amused at the sight of the sword being brandished at it. "I promise, I won't eat either you or that abomination."

"Shigure-san," I added, my voice cracking slightly as it did so. "You should probably do as it says." Left unspoken was the implied 'before it changes its mind and kills us both', though even without the Satori to give the thought voice I think Shigure managed to pick up on my very real worry.

Shigure hesitated for a moment as though uncertain of the wisdom of disarming herself in the presence of the wolf, before finally she capitulated and sheathed her father's sword. Turning slightly to look me over, she slowly extended a hand to help me stand. I didn't realize till I took it that I would actually need the support, but when my legs nearly gave out on me again I was thankful for the assistance.

After all, I most definitely did NOT want to stumble in the wolf's presence again. I had no idea just how generous a god it really was.

"Well?" the deep bass noise of the wolf's voice came again, still sounding more amused than anything else. "Are you coming, little abomination?"

"Yes," I told it, nodding carefully as I did so. "Thank you very much for your patience, Ookami-sama."

"Don't mention it," the wolf told me, starting to trot away at pace which was comfortable for a human to walk at. "Ever," it added. "I dislike having anything to do with an abomination like you, Wicked Blossom. The sooner you're off my mountain, the better."

I winced at its words, but made no other response to the creature's title for me. All things considered, I could hazard a few good guesses as to why it had chosen something so unflattering as a way to address me. If it disliked me for the reason I suspected, then I should be thankful that its response was nothing more fierce than an unpleasant name.

And so the wolf led the two of us away from the clearing where we had watched a demon die, into a forest which was already growing ominously dark as the sun sank ever lower behind the concealing bulk of the mountains surrounding us.

*Scene Break*

"I hope you don't mind," the wolf began as we walked through the shadows cast by the tall trees around us. "But I don't think I'll be taking you two all the way down to the foot of my mountain. If I lead you as far as that village you were in earlier, will the two of you be able to make it the rest of the way by yourselves?"

"That will be fine, Ookami-sama," I assured the wolf. Honestly, I would rather the wolf left right now and that I never saw it again. That was generally the best response to have when a god tells you to your face that it doesn't like you.

"Hmph," it grunted in response, hopping over a log which was bigger around that its rather petite frame. Its tail swished behind it as it walked, not quite a sign of joy like the more enthusiastic wagging it had performed earlier but more just the natural movements of an animal as it used its tail to keep its balance. "Your pack should be around there too," it grudgingly added, as though it didn't like the idea of talking to me any more than it had to but feeling obligated to do so anyway. "They've been looking for you for a while, but I've been keeping them around there so they wouldn't get in the way."

"Thank you for your generosity," I responded, and though it was somewhat relieving to know that the others were safe, something about the wolf's response gave me pause. "But if you were able to deceive those three, Ookami-sama, then how was it that Shigure-san was able to find me?"

It was a bit strange that out of the three Masters and one higher class Disciple present only Shigure had appeared once the fight with the Satori had started. If anything, the Elder should have been able to locate me easily. Even among Masters the Elder was on a whole other level of unnatural ability.

"I tried to keep her away," the wolf growled, sounding annoyed, "but that bitch was just too persistent. Hmph."

I winced at the persistent title that the wolf had been using to address Shigure, despite knowing its source. While humans tended to associate the word 'bitch' with negative connotations, for a wolf it was just a simple way to refer to her gender, much as it persisted in calling my companions my 'pack'. Still, I was worried about how Shigure would take such an unpleasant title. However, when I glanced over, it was to find that Shigure had other things on her mind.

"Kenichi," she began, staring at the wolf in front of us carefully, her face inscrutable as always. "It can… talk?"

Huh. Out of all the things she chose to focus on, it was that. Still, that made sense in its own way. It was pretty unusual to come across a talking dog, after all, and most of the other Kai we had come across hadn't exactly been that vocal, or that polite when they were making noises. Today was probably the first time that Shigure had actually had the chance to just converse with one of the Kai.

"It's a wolf," I offered as way of explanation. "According to legend, all wolves could talk once, not just the god. Eventually legends of conversing with wolves started to die out, though legends that had to do with why aren't clear whether or not it was because the wolves had forgotten how to speak, or if they just stopped wanting to talk to humans."

"It's the former," the wolf chimed in, glancing back over its shoulder briefly before it skirted a boulder, starting to head in a downward direction as it did so. "It's been a long time since I watched the others of my kind forget themselves and lose their speech. Now, I think I might be the only one in Japan that still remembers." It snorted again, sounding bemused. "Or even exists for that matter."

Despite the harsh reminder of the loss of the others of its species, the wolf didn't seem particularly put off by the near extinction of its kind. It glanced at me again, its eyes glimmering gold briefly as it did so. "Though I am surprised at you, Wicked Blossom. It's rare to find a human as polite as you, much less an abomination such as yourself with any manners to speak of. If it wasn't for the fact that I hate you, I think I might have chosen to give you a blessing."

"That's fine," I assured it, trying to suppress a nervous gulp. I actually felt a little thankful that I had somehow earned the god's antipathy, because I'd been blessed by a god once before, and it wasn't a pleasant thing.

I'm a lot heavier than I look. Most people attribute that to my martial arts, and the adjustment to my muscle composition that Akisame had been instilling in me. The truth was though I was nearly this heavy even before I had started Martial Arts. Once, several years ago, a Crab of Burden had decided that I was worthy of notice, and in response to that it decided to grant my existence more weight. In a symbolic way, weight was a way of describing one's importance to the world, of the influence we had over others. A light existence had little impact the existence's surroundings, after all, and the reverse was true as well.

The Crab of Burden had probably meant it as a favor, but gods like that Crab were notorious for not being completely aware of the impact their gifts had on the humans they granted them to.

In that particular case my existence having more impact meant that I gained nearly eight pounds over night, without any sign of where that weight came from appearing on my body. My muscles and bones had been the same, my organs unaffected, and my body fat identical to what it had been before. But despite that, the scale would groan whenever I used it, and I had to be very careful when getting into small boats.

And then there was the time the Shikome had decided to give me a divine favor as well…

I shuddered. Yeah. I think I could do without the attention of the gods whenever possible.

"Still," the wolf mused. "Even if all this didn't work like I hoped, I suppose it went well enough. Just as long as you never come back, then I still would have gotten rid of both of you."

It was Shigure who first picked up the underlying meaning behind the wolf's words. "Get rid of?" she echoed, and I noticed nervously the way her hand drifted up to the handle of her sword. "What do you mean…by that?"

"I meant that I originally hoped that the two abominations would just kill each other," the wolf admitted bluntly. "Or that one would die and I could just finish off the other."

It said it so matter of factly that it actually took me a second to realize just what it was implying. "Wait," I began, blinking in surprise. "Do you mean that you led me to the Satori on purpose?"

"Of course, Wicked Blossom," the wolf snorted, the noise a high pitched yelping noise which contrasted with its rumble speaking voice. "I don't like abominations of my mountain, after all. So when two of them showed up, I decided to let the filth get rid of itself."

"Oh," I responded, my throat dry as I did so. That would explain a lot, actually. It had been strange for a wolf to approach a group like ours in the first place, and even stranger that it had led me away precisely to a location where I would be ambushed by yet another of the Kai almost immediately. But if the attack hadn't been random after all, if the wolf had been deliberately leading me to a place where I would be forced to fight to the death with a monster… "Oh," I repeated again.

At my side, I felt Shigure bristle as the wolf shamelessly admitted to his plan for killing me. At least that's what I thought was upsetting her. However, when she spoke up again it was about something which actually surprised me a little.

"Don't call Kenichi…that," she told the wolf , one hand resting on the hilt of her sword as she narrowed her jagged eyebrows in a small glare at the beast. I glanced at her, surprised at the stoic woman's comment, and also a little confused by it. The wolf glanced over its shoulder at the threatening stance of my Master before it snorted again.

"Don't call the abomination what? An abomination?" The wolf didn't bother to even slow down as it continued to lead the two of us through the dark forest. "Best to call things what they are," the wolf grunted, "and what the Wicked Blossom is is just that: an abomination."

Above, I could make out random patches of stars where the trees didn't quite manage to block out the sky completely, but those patches were rare. For the most part it was nearly pitch black as we followed the wolf, just a lighter shadow among shadows as it moved. It was disconcerting enough as it was, to walk through a dark forest, but to hear the wolf so bluntly summarize what it thought of me just seemed to add to the somewhat malevolent atmosphere. I wasn't certain if it was the atmosphere which was adding to her unease, but Shigure definitely seemed upset at the way the wolf was addressing me.

"I said not to call him… that," she repeated, and I could make out a definite tone of threat in her voice as she did so. The wolf apparently could too, and slowed to a halt, glancing over its shoulder as it met my Master's angry stare with glimmering eyes.

"Shigure-san," I interrupted, reaching out hurriedly to put one hand on her wrist, hoping that she wouldn't have the same response Miu tended to have whenever she was approached unexpectedly or from behind. I definitely did not want to end up sprawled on the ground, not until I was far enough away from the hostile god not to tempt it. When Shigure glanced at me briefly so as not to take her eyes completely away from the god she was picking a fight with, it was to see the somewhat bitter half smile on my face. "It's fine."

"No," Shigure shook her head briefly, turning back to keep her eye on the waiting wolf. "It's not fine for it… to call my Disciple something like that."

"Shigure-san," I repeated, and this time when she glanced back at me it was to find that I couldn't quite bring myself to meet her eyes. "It's… It's not exactly wrong to call me that," I finally admitted softly.

"Kenichi…" Shigure murmured, surprised at my confession. I managed to force myself to meet her gaze, my smile still a little crooked.

"Just let it go, okay? For my sake?" My sake partly being because I didn't want to risk aggravating the wolf any more than it already was by my presence. Maybe if we had been back in the clearing, or if it was daylight, we might have had a chance if it came to a confrontation. But now, when it was already dark and getting darker, surrounded by the vegetation and rubble of the wilds, and on the wolf's home ground as well? Now a confrontation was so foolhardy as to almost qualify as suicide.

The other part of it being for my sake was because I'd really rather just not think about what was different about me. Thinking about the reason why the wolf called me an abomination just called to minds thoughts about… her.

And considering just how quickly I punched the lights out of a demon for mentioning her, it should be obvious just how little I wanted to think about her.

Shigure gave me that blank, searching glance of hers for a moment, before the hand on her blade relaxed, falling back to her side as she did so. "…Okay," she finally capitulated, turning to look briefly forward towards the wolf again. The god snorted, another canine-like noise, before turning and taking a few steps forward, no doubt getting ready to resume its self-appointed task of guiding us down the mountain. Shigure turned her attention away from the wolf and instead focused it down and to the side, vaguely in my direction before she paused.

It was only when I looked down as well to see just what it was that had caught her attention that I realized I was still holding her wrist. Realization that I was touching Shigure brought to mind just how close I was standing to her, and realization of that brought to mind…

Blushing, I quickly released her hand, clearing my throat loudly as I looked away. Considering how the fight had ended it was probably unsurprising that I had temporarily forgotten what had happened before hand, but now that it was calmer Shigure's presence was enough to remind me.

"We," I coughed again, trying not to let on that I was blushing. "We should probably hurry up," I concluded, starting to walk stiffly after the wolf.

"…Yes," Shigure agreed, her tone unreadable to me as my Master followed after me.

And that was the last word before a silence more awkward than anything I could remember in recent history settled between the two of us. All things considered, that was probably the best either of us could hope for at the moment. Even if neither of us had spoken earlier, enough had ended up being said to make things strange enough as it is.

The fight with the Satori had been fast. Despite the sheer amount that the Satori had said, the speed it had spoken with had been so quick that the actual amount of time was significantly less than it seemed. Honestly, from beginning to end the fight had probably taken less than five minutes. Despite that, so much had been said, been revealed that in retrospect it would probably take me days to sort it all out.

It wasn't every day that you discovered a beautiful woman with superhuman capabilities watched you while you slept, after all.

Against my will, I found my eyes darting over to glance at my Master as the two of us walked in silence. Shigure was looking away as the two of us trailed after the wolf, and I wasn't certain if it was just so she could keep an eye where she was walking or if it was so she wouldn't have to look at me as she did so.

It wouldn't surprise me if that was the reason either. She must be having trouble looking at me at this point. Throughout the fight she had been the most dangerous participant and it had been for that reason that the Satori had focused so much of its attention on her thoughts. And naturally, with the Satori having revealed so much of her private thoughts it was no wonder that Shigure was uncomfortable in my presence.

I was uncomfortable as well, but for reasons that had less to do with what had been revealed about my own mind.

I was too busy being ashamed.

I don't know what I had been expecting of the inner workings of Shigure's mind. It's not like I woke up this morning and thought to myself, 'Hmmm, I wonder just what it is that Shigure is thinking at this very moment?' Honestly, it was terrible of me but I never really thought Shigure really had much on her mind at all. She was always so quiet, and when she did speak it was almost always succinct and to the point, so straightforward as to be blunt. I had never really considered that maybe there was more going on behind her placid gaze than just thoughts of swords and weapons.

And I never for a second would have thought that so much of what she thought was about me.

It wasn't like I was creeped out about it either, though the part about her watching me sleep sometime did firmly toe the line of acceptable behavior. The quick explanation that had followed that little segment did make sense though. I mean, I did frequently make breaks for it when Ryouzanpaku's training started to get intense, but considering that training had killed me once before I felt perfectly justified in those escape attempts. And it wasn't like the other Masters didn't spy on me too. For all their great power the Masters of Ryouzanpaku were only human and nosiness and curiosity were human traits after all. And it wasn't like I didn't occasionally pry into things that I shouldn't either, like when I had asked Akisame about Shigure's past or when I had put my nose into Ma's business with his brother…

Heck, on the scale of creepiness, I was willing to acknowledge that Ma and me trying to sneak peeks into the onsen while Shigure and Miu were bathing was probably just as bit as unacceptable on the scale of decent behavior….

Anyway.

It's just that so much of the thoughts Shigure had about me focused more on our relationship as Master and Disciple then on anything else. Her desire to teach me how to use her own brand of Martial Arts, her worry about how I regarded her, the disappointment she felt whenever I went to one of the other Masters for help; so much of what she thought about me seemed to have a tone of uncertainty, of nervous energy and second guessing. It was so different from her usual implacable appearance, from the surety and decisiveness that she showed in battle.

I think for the first time I realized just how young Shigure really was.

Shigure was hailed as a prodigy, and had advanced to Master class with frightening speed. But when it came right down to it, she was still only twenty two. With Apachai and Sakaki at twenty eight each and myself at about eighteen Shigure was actually closer in age to Miu and I then she was to anyone else in Ryouzanpaku. And yet despite that oh so brief gap Shigure was still held with a Master's regard, and shouldered a Master's duties. It was so easy to see her silence as certainty, to see her skill as a sign of confidence, that I had never once even thought that Kousaka Shigure, the prodigy of all bladed weapons and a Master of Ryouzanpaku, might ever have the kind of worries she apparently did.

More than that, I could also easily say that of all the Masters of Ryouzanpaku, she was by far the one I had the most trouble dealing with. Part of that had to do with the nature of her skills: frankly, weapons scare me. Weapons scare me a lot. The first time I had a knife pulled on me I had frozen, and if Miu hadn't been there than I don't know what would have happened to me. It hadn't stopped there either; the weapon using Team Valkyrie of Ragnarok, the bladed shoes of Christopher Éclair's minions, and a dozen other encounters with armed assailants. Weapons scared me so much that when I had been recovering from the wounds Koukin Tirawit gave me the Elder had deliberately chosen to send me with Shigure so that I could fight against more weapons users in order to give me an even bigger scare than my own death had been.

And here was Shigure, someone who very nearly qualified as weapons incarnate and at any one time had more of the things on her than all the members of a small military unit would have combined. Even if she was one of my Masters, even if I trusted her and had faith in her, it didn't change the fact that she made me very, very nervous.

The other part of the source of my difficulty in dealing with Shigure had to do with the fact that she was a very good looking woman who frequently ended up in states of dress which jumped right over the line into indecent. And who also apparently liked to tease me with that body whenever she got the chance as well as I discovered earlier today.

When faced with both of those very real factors, it just seemed logical that I would tend to gravitate towards one of my other Masters whenever something came up that I needed help with. I don't think I ever made the conscious decision, but there was no doubt even in my mind that I had tended to avoid Shigure as much as possible.

I was reminded of the first time Miu had gotten invited to Shinpaku Headquarters and how happy that had made her, and how the realization that I had unconsciously been excluding her from those kinds of meetings had made me feel: the a first class heel and biggest and most insensitive jerk the world had ever seen.

I was feeling kind of just like that right now too.

The realization that I had just learned more about Shigure in the course of a five minute fight with a monster than I had in nearly a year and a half of living in the same house as her just compounded that feeling.

I took a deep breath, and decided that however much of a jerk I was, now that I realized it I wasn't going to stand for it. It was time to do something drastic.

"Um," I began, and despite my resolve I couldn't help but notice that my voice was definitely nervous. "Shigure-san," I began, swallowing as I did so. "There's something that I would like to talk to you about."

"…Yes?" Shigure took her time responding, and I noted from the corner of my eye that she was staring resolutely forward. Once more I couldn't tell just what she was actually thinking, and I found myself hypocritically wishing that we might come across another Satori. It was just so hard to get a read on my youngest Master.

"It's just," I swallowed again in a dry throat and then decided to just plunge in. "It's just that I was wondering if you could maybe teach me how to use a kusarigami."

Shigure was silent for a few moments, but I noticed how she gave me a slow glance out of the corner of my eye after my unexpected request. Finally, she deigned to respond. Now that I was aware of just how much went on in her head, I couldn't even begin to guess just what it was she was actually thinking in the time it took her to answer back.

"Why…a kusarigama?" It was only long familiarity with the older girl which let me detect the hint of curiosity in her tone.

"It's just," I stumbled to try and explain just why I had settled on that weapon in particular. "Well, you know how I decided to never strike a woman, right Shigure-san?" When I caught the briefest of nods from my Master I pressed on, determined to get this out before I lost my nerve. "Well, I've been using jujitsu in order to suppress any women I fight without hurting them. However, that doesn't always work. So I was thinking about maybe using a weapon, one that I could use without hurting them but I could use to restrain them."

It was a chauvinistic wish, and one I knew intellectually that it wasn't practical, but I just hated the thought of hitting a girl. However, against some of my female opponents that desire to not fight them just wasn't practical at this point in my development. And the more people knew of my hesitation to hit the opposite sex, the more I was certain I would someday pay for my pride.

"I remembered the way I saw you use the kusarigama before," I pressed on, thinking back on the times I had seen Shigure use the sickle and chain to restrain and subdue her foes, like the time when we had bathed together. "If I could learn how to use a kusarigama, than maybe I could use it to if I ever fought a woman who was too skilled for me to win against with jujitsu. And the kusarigama was originally used to entrap and restrain weapons and people, wasn't it? I could also use it when fighting against other weapon users as well."

For a moment, Shigure just continued to glance ahead as we both continued to follow the wolf. Finally, she turned her head to look directly at me, catching my own eye before I could look away in time. I realized that she understood just what I was doing, and that she knew that my sudden offer to put myself directly under her tutelage had come about as a result of the revelations in the clearing of the Satori.

I also realized that she understood why I was doing so as well. But even if it was inspired by my shame, it was still the truth: I wanted to be closer to my Master, to have the same bond I had with Shigure as I did with the other Masters of Ryouzanpaku. And just like I had seen before, Shigure's lips stretched ever so slightly into an expression which was only a hair's breath away from being a smile.

"Very well… Disciple," she nodded, her voice serious. "Sakaki said that if he ever got a Disciple then the Disciple would be dead in three days. I will be sure to kill you… in only two."

"That's…. that's very thoughtful, Shigure-san," I told her, trying my best to keep my voice firm, and knowing that it was actually closer to a whimper. Despite my personal apprehension, I forced myself not to retract my request for weapon training and when Shigure turned away so she could bring up one fist in front of her in a silent 'Yes!' gesture, I knew that running away wasn't an option any more. But still…

Weapons are scary!

"Kids," the wolf we were following snorted, sounding bemused at the conversation he had just bore witness to.

*Scene Break*

"There it is," the wolf told the two of us, giving a brief nod with its muzzle towards the village. It had led us to a small bluff that looked out over the abandoned village of the Kuremisago, one that both Shigure and I could jump easily enough. "This is as far as I'm going to take the two of you, so if you can't figure out the rest from here you can just die in the forest."

"Thank you," I told the wolf, trying to suppress a twitch of my eyes at the god's casual malice towards the two of us. "I'll be sure to offer azuki beans before we leave this region."

"Hmph," the wolf snorted in derision, but I noticed that it didn't actually make any comment about me not needing to do so, or about how it didn't want any favors from an abomination. It looked like even its distaste towards me wasn't quite enough to overcome its love for the offered food. "Just hurry up and get off my mountain, Wicked Blossom."

"Why does it… keep calling you that?" Shigure broke in, the first words she had spoken since she had promised me murder in two days. I was about to do my best to discreetly shush her again in order to keep her from picking a fight with a god, when I realized that she didn't sound confrontational again. This time she only sounded curious.

It looked like she was still feeling happy about the chance to finally pass down some of her weapon techniques to me.

Still, she did have a point. The wolf had taken to calling me by two titles since it had decided to start speaking. While I could understand it calling me an 'abomination', I was actually a little lost at just what the reason behind the title of 'Wicked Blossom' meant.

I just wasn't curious enough to risk angering a vengeful god by asking it. It looked like Shigure wasn't quite as apprehensive as I was.

"Because that's what he is," the wolf told her, sounding as though it was the most obvious response in the world and that Shigure was an idiot for even having to ask. "Now go away. I don't like you either, bitch. You might be a human, but you're rude. It's only because the abomination was so polite that I haven't eaten you already."

"Ah…" Shigure blinked, as though realizing something. "Please…. Don't eat me?" she tacked on a moment later, sounding as though she was only humoring the beast.

The wolf yipped again. "Far too late for that now," it grumbled. "Still, at least you said it eventually." It took a moment to give me a baleful glance before it continued. "Take my advice, bitch. You should hurry up and get rid of that abomination. It's only a matter of time before it goes back to its old pack anyway."

"Kenichi won't just run away," Shigure protested, her eyes narrowing again as one hand began to twitch as though preparing to go for her sword. "He is Ryouzanpaku's… precious Disciple."

It was actually touching to hear the normally distant woman speak up for me like that, though it was also disturbing just how willing she seemed to be to pick a fight with a god. Discreetly, though I was certain that the wolf could probably see me just as well as Shigure could, I started making motions with my hands indicating that we should hurry up and leave before the wolf decided it had been polite long enough.

"He might be your Disciple now," the wolf told the swordswoman, its gimlet eyes narrowing. "But its got the scent of another bitch all over it. It's only a matter of time until the abomination goes back to others of its own kind."

"And what do you mean by that?" I broke in, and my voice had an unconscious sharpness that attracted both the wolf and Shigure's attention. It was probably the most belligerent action I had taken towards the okuri-ookami the entire day, but then again if it was referring to what I thought it was, then it looked like even my tolerance might be reaching a limit.

"Hmmm?" the wolf's long and drawn out hum in that deep tone of its reverberated through my bones for a moment. Finally, its muzzle opened and its tongue came out in a canine grin. "I meant what I said, abomination. However much you play around with these humans, there will come a day when you'll go back to the other abomination. It's just a matter of time."

"That's impossible," I told it, my eyes narrowing and my fist clenching before I paused. Taking a deep breath I forced myself to calm down. I had made it this far, and freedom from the imposing god was only a stone throw away. It could be that the wolf was hoping just for this, that it could provoke me enough to attack it so it could get rid of me like it had been hoping too early. "That's impossible," I said again, this time in a calmer voice. "The one you are referring to is dead, Ookami-sama."

Shigure turned her head slightly so that she could look at me more directly. It was probably only due to the long association I've had with her that I could make out the way her eyes widened slightly in surprise at my admission.

The wolf's head cocked to the side as its golden eyes searched me again. Finally its muzzle drew back, and this time the grin it gave was disturbingly human like despite its animal source.

"Oh?" Its deep voice had a sly tone to it. "Well, Wicked Blossom. I think I've come to a conclusion. I told you before, that if you were a human then I would have probably given you my blessing. However, since you're an abomination, I can't do such a thing. However, you did do me a favor today, and so you can't go completely unrewarded."

"So?" I asked, my tone cautious. I did not like the way this was going at all. I threw a half glance behind me, wondering if the two of us made a break for it then would the wolf let us go.

"In order to repay you then, I'm going to tell you something of your future," the wolf informed me, panting in a wolf like fashion as it did so. "The way things are right now? They will not last. Something is coming, something great and awful, something which will change everything you thought you knew, and destroy and remake everything you thought you stood for."

A shudder went down my spine at the wolf's words. There were many legends about the wisdom of wolves in the world, and many stories about the advice of gods. Because of all those conflicting tales, I couldn't be certain if the warning the beast was giving me simply the advice of one who had lived for a very long time or if it was a true prophecy of things to come.

The wolf, having apparently said its piece, finally turned and started making its way back into the bushes. Honestly, I was happy to see it go. However, before it disappeared completely it paused turning back so I could see its too bright eyes again.

"One last thing," it added, and the wolf's body seemed a little too dark, the tan of its coat fading into shadows that shouldn't be that thick, and its teeth were just a little too white in its jaw. "The one you thought was dead; just how sure are you of that?"

My eyes widened at the wolf's word, the implications of them like a dagger through my brain. Seeing the reaction he had garnered in me, the god's smile widened.

"Suffer, abomination," were the last words it spoke before it finally disappeared into the darkness completely.

What had it meant by that? What was it trying to imply? Why had it told me that? A dozen thoughts raced through my head as I stared at the dark forest the god had vanished into.

"Kenichi," it was Shigure who brought me out of my frozen state. I realized that she was leaning down in front of me, staring up at me with an expression as close to concerned as her usually stoic face could make. "Are you… alright?"

"Yeah," I managed to get out, my voice an unsteady whisper. Behind me, now that I was paying attention to the world again, I could hear the voices of Apachai and the Elder as they called out, whatever spell the wolf had used to keep them away having apparently run its course.

*Scene Break*

"Kenichi-san," Miu scolded me, hands on her hip as she gave me a pouty glare. "You should be more careful! Getting lost in the woods for a day! You had us all worried."

"Sorry, Miu-san," I told her, rubbing the back of my head as I did so. It had only taken us a few minutes to rejoin with the rest of the group after the wolf had departed, and for the third time that day I found myself traversing the stairs that connected the village of the Kuremisago with the nearest town with a train station.

"It's so late now!" Miu continued to moan, glancing down at her watch as she did so. "What are the others going to do for dinner?"

"Now, now, Miu," the Elder broke in with a reassuring voice. "They're all grown adults. I'm sure they can handle cooking for themselves for just one day."

"It's not the cooking that worries me," Miu 'humph'ed, folding her arms indignantly. "It's the state of the kitchen afterwards. Grown men should know how to do dishes at this point!"

"Yeah," I agreed, trying to give my fretting friend a comforting smile. Apparently, it didn't come out quite right as Miu paused in her worrying, a concerned look appearing on her face.

"Kenichi-san," she began, her eyes studying me carefully. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yeah," I repeated, trying to correct my smile. Physically, I was fine. But the words of the wolf continued to echo in my head, distracting me despite the fact that I was once more with the rest of my group and the beast was long gone.

"Are you sure?" she asked again, a small frown appearing. "It looks like you were in a fight."

"Ah," I glanced down, only now realizing the disheveled state of my school clothes. The sweat I had shed throughout the day had dried, leaving salt stains in various places and I was sure that I was beginning to stink by now. "That is…" I began, before realizing I hadn't even tried to think of an excuse for my appearance, and in fact hadn't even realized that I probably should.

"He was… attacked," Shigure broke in, supplying an answer for me with typical bluntness. Her simple words were enough to draw a reaction from the Elder and Miu, though Apachai only gave me a curious glance before the gentle giant continued to look around the dark forest as though searching for something.

"Attacked?" Miu yelped, her studying gaze returned, this time much more intent.

"Was it Yami?" the Elder asked, a serious note entering his tone as he gave Shigure a searching glance. When the swordswoman shook her head negative, the large man relaxed slightly.

"It was… a monkey," Shigure explained, nodding to herself as she did so. The ridiculous explanation caused a near universal blink of surprise from the rest of the group, myself included.

"A monkey?" Miu repeated, giving me a strange look as though she was trying to picture how a simple monkey could possibly be cause for alarm.

"Hey," I yelped, not sure I was liking the flat looks I was receiving from the girl I admired, or what that spoke of my worth in her eyes. "It was a really big monkey," I added defensively, before realizing that probably made me look even less cool in her eyes and slumping in despair. When Miu began to giggle at my response I just sighed, palming my face as I did so.

Well, better she was laughing than me having to explain what really happened.

"Let's hurry… and get home," Shigure added, and judging from the way both Miu and the Elder looked at her they were surprised by how unusually talkative the taciturn swordswoman was being. With a somber look, Shigure turned to face me, pointing one a finger at me as she sternly continued. "Kenichi…I'm not letting you sleep tonight."

"Eh?" Both Miu and I managed to release synchronized shocked noises at the boldness of the pronunciation.

"Wait," I began, realizing that maybe Shigure might have been a bit too serious when she had promised to kill me in two days through training. "Shigure-san, shouldn't we wait a bit first? I need to prepare myself for something like that!"

The thought of learning weapons at all was enough to chill me, but the thought of learning from Shigure whom was a little too fund of hands on training with live blades, and at night for that matter too, was enough to drive me right into the arctic.

"Shigure-san and Kenichi-san," Miu whispered, one hand coming up to cover her mouth as a shocked expression settled on her face. "Not sleeping… Needing to prepare himself… But I thought… No way…."

It was a statement to just how many shocks I had today that it actually took me a second to realize what Miu was getting at.

"Wait, no!" I yelped, turning to face Miu desperately as I began to wave my arms in the air to try and negate my previous sentence. "It's not like that! It's not like that at all!"

It was so subtle that I almost missed it while trying to placate the suddenly red-faced Miu, but I managed to catch sight of it out of the corner of my eyes: Shigure putting one hand up to conceal her mouth, and a soft 'heh' that I just barely managed to make out.

"Ah!" I pointed my finger at Shigure, whom I realized with a distracted sort of surrealism, was actually giggling at Miu and I. "You're teasing me again!"

"Oh?" the Elder chimed in, and from the expression on his face he was equal parts amused as he was impressed. "Nice one, Shigure-san!" he cheered, jumping on the gravy train of embarrassing the poor innocent Disciples.

"Shigure-san and Kenichi-san," Miu repeated, and her eyes looked a little unfocused as she apparently was still stuck on the entirely impossible concept of the two of us together like had been implied earlier. "No way…"

"Apapapa!" Apachai broke in as I continued to wave my arms desperately as I struggled to think up a way to convince Miu that there was no way what she was thinking could ever possibly occur. "Kenichi," the Deathgod of Underground Muay Thai began in a curious voice. "Did you ever get that thing back from that kid earlier?"

"That thing?" I repeated, my mind racing even faster than it had when I had been fighting the Satori as I tried to keep track of all the developments that were occurring so rapidly. Finally, I realized just what my Master was saying. "Ah! My cellphone!"

Not only had the wolf dragged me away to possibly fight to the death against another yokai, given me veiled insults and ominous prophecies, it had also never returned my phone to me!

That's it. It's official.

The gods are apparently all jerks.

*Scene Break*

Despite the fact that life went on, I couldn't help but remember the wolf's final words. I wasn't certain what it had meant by them, or why it had told me what it did. And with how much occurred afterwards, the training, the revelation of Sakaki-sensei's past with Hongou the God Hand of Yami, it was easy to let the wolf's words fall to the back of my mind. The beast had admitted to not liking me, after all. It was entirely possible that its words had been nothing more than a spiteful method of scorning me.

For three weeks, I let myself believe that.

And then Miu was kidnapped by Junazard SIlkwat, the Demon God Fist of One Shadow Nine Fist.

Even as I prepared to depart for the Kingdom of Tidat with Sakaki in order to bring back my missing friend, the words of the wolf took new meaning in my head.

Something is coming.

Something which will change everything I thought I knew, and destroy and remake everything I thought I stood for.

And that the one I thought was dead, might not be suffering from the fate that I thought she was.

The gods really were jerks.


	3. Chapter 3

Honor Thy Masters

_Author's notes: Here's the third chapter of Honor Thy Masters. I've been getting some reviews for the story, but none that really need a lot of attention in the author's notes, so I'll just let that usual section go by._

_Once more, I'm still experimenting with the theme of 'there is a higher power out there, and it hates you', so expect more general malice from the entire universe in this chapter. In particular, I'd like to take a moment to engage in what I refer to as 'writers angst' over whether or not I managed to get some scenes properly done. What I wanted to express during the confrontation with this chapters monster was a scene of helpless horror. I wanted to grow tension and unease mostly through dialogue and innocuous actions, to make a horror scene without resorting to violence or butchery. _

_Problem with that is as an author you have to deal with a variation of the trope 'Faux symbolism?'. More like 'what do you mean its not scary?'. I know that I thought the scene managed to express the appropriate amount of tension, but I was seeing the scene in my head, rather than just reading it on the screen, so I might not be the best judge. Just give a shout whether or not this chapter manages to be freaky or fall flat._

_Now, another brief note..._

_*Spoilers*_

_Here it is, what every wannabe anime fanfic writer inevitably comes to: a nine tailed fox. I think there's some sort of internet law that requires all writers to at least contemplate using one at one point or another. Some writers end up using it as a major plot point... cough*Naruto*cough. However, I wanted to keep the kyuubi to be at least someone in touch with the original legends unlike some works... cough*Naruto*cough... and thus tried to keep the original source work in there._

_One, nine tailed foxes are generally all vicious creatures._

_Two, they have a lot of power, but rarely in a one on one fight._

_Three, they are most certainly not named after cheesy eighties shonen comics... cough*Naru..._

_Ah fuck it. _

_Naruto, you used one of the most evil creatures in existence as a potential protagonist and ended up nerfing the hell out of it and not even using a name which is vaguely appropriate for serious consideration. Seriously. Kuruma? What the hell were you thinking?_

_Naruto, you are dead to me. Go and be the fangirl bait you were always destined to end up as._

_*End Spoilers*_

_Now, here's chapter three, wherein Kenichi and Shigure confront an ancient creature of pure malevolence and have several heartfelt talks before getting nekkid together, more ominous foreshadowing occurs, and a mouse with nunchuks somehow becomes a major plot point._

*Story Start*

It was the fox that set me on the path of destruction that I was most likely inevitably destined to follow.

The meeting took place four months after the meeting with the wolf. Four months of battle and bloodshed and pain. It had been three weeks after that spiteful meeting that Miu had been taken by Junazard Silkwat. After that it had two weeks before we had managed to discover the general location of where the Demon God Fist had taken our precious Miu. From there it had been another month of desperate searching in the kingdom of Tirat before we had managed to locate her, and I had rather ingloriously been kidnapped just the same as she had been. From there, the blur of battle was so intense that it seemed to have lasted forever, and revelation after revelation was made to me.

How Junazard had used forbidden techniques and drugs to force the normally gentle Miu into his desired role as potential Disciple of the Satsujin Ken. How he had then decided to use me as Miu's first kill, a way to irrevocably destroy any possibility of recovering the girl we once knew. The desperate battle, first between the still hesitating Miu and then that mad beast of a swordsman, Sankan Pengulu. Then, of all things, the meeting between myself and Miu's long estranged father…

Anyway, I don't know all the details about what occurred in the stronghold of the Demon God Fist. The fight that I had undergone with Miu and the assassin had been too hard, the both of them too skilled, and the damage I had taken during it was enormous. I do know that by the time I recovered enough to not be running on hazy instinct, the strong hold had been destroyed and that the Demon God Fist was no more. I also know that it was another week before I had recovered enough from the beating I had received to get out of bed and another week after that before I was tentatively allowed to resume training again.

If this was a storybook, then that would be the end of that. The good guys won, the kidnapped princess was returned, and they all lived happily ever after.

Unfortunately, this isn't a storybook. Long experience had taught me a few things, and one of those things was that nothing ever worked out as neatly as it should.

When Miu's fist struck me in the gut hard enough to lift me off the ground and force blood from my mouth that would be a very good sign of just how un-right the world still was.

I tried to hold the blood in, to swallow it back, and nearly choked on it for the effort. Desperately, I brought my hands up, trying not to let my Seikuuken waver despite the pain, but it was a losing effort. Even if it had been two weeks since I had been pronounced well enough to train again, that didn't mean that I was in anyway completely healed. When I had been fighting against Pengulu I had taken a lot of damage. Some of that damage had been from fighting against the mad swordsman myself. Other damage had been taken when I had tried my best to protect Miu from the beast's attacks, even going so far as to deliberately try and trap his blades with my body. And even more of the wounds I had received had been from none other than the brainwashed Miu, who had attacked me without mercy even when I was protecting her.

Cracked ribs, bruised organs, torn muscles and ligaments, fractured radius and ulna, severe concussions… the list just went on and on. It was a miracle I survived at all, and probably a testament to the dark and evil powers that Akisame wielded as a doctor feared by all sane physicians as well as the innumerable ancient Chinese remedies that Ma could call upon that I was well enough to be participating in a spar at all after only a month of recovery after my ordeal.

I regretted none of them, because I had received them in the name of my oath, my self-appointed task to be strong enough to protect Miu when no one else could. And I had done so, having reached through the darkness to pull Miu's innocent personality back despite the brainwashing and drugs she had received.

But it looked as though not all the darkness was gone from her soul. I could actually see the moment when Miu's eyes dimmed and unfocused, when her breathing changed. I could see the kick she was about to chamber, a slicing attack which would be aimed at my neck and designed to crush my larynx and kill me.

I nearly cringed as her foot cut through the air on a lethal course. But despite all I could see, what I couldn't see was the Elder as his body seemed to appear from nowhere, one gentle hand stopping the kick with ridiculous ease.

For a moment Miu's eyes stayed empty, and then the light returned to them. She blinked, looking confused, and then her gaze focused on her own foot as though she had never seen it before.

"Ah!" she gasped, and her eyes darted to mine, a horrified look in them as she searched my face to see if maybe I hadn't caught what had just occurred.

Despite myself my eyes trailed away, unable to meet bear the sight of such shame on Miu's beautiful face. Her eyes moved to my lips and the drops of blood on them, and then down to my stomach where her fist was still embedded.

"I…" Miu began, her eyes darting wildly like a spooked horse for a second, before they drew inexorably back to foot which had nearly killed me. "That was…!" it looked like she was trying to say something, though whether it was an apology or an excuse I don't think even she knew. "I think I…" struggling, she couldn't seem to decide what it was she actually wanted to say. "Excuse me!" she finally blurted, and then pulled free from her grandfather's grasp and darted, decorum forgotten, from the inside of the dojo. I stumbled briefly as she pulled free, but the Elder caught me, supporting me as I tried to get the breath back in my lungs

"She lost it again," Sakaki noted from where he was leaning against the wall shoji screen door, a decapitated beer bottle clasped loosely in his hand as he did so. The expression on his face was serious, the bulky man's eyes narrowed as he reflected on the scene he had just witnessed. It was a far cry from his usual cocky grin that he tended to favor when he was relaxing in Ryouzanpaku, but it wasn't a face I hadn't seen before.

It was just, usually when Sakaki wore his business face, it was only when he was fighting the most dangerous of opponents.

Sakaki was almost always grinning, even in the midst of heated battle. My Karate Master was what he was, and he didn't make any excuses for it: he was a battle junky, someone who could not only fight, but loved it when he got the chance. Every once in a while though an opponent would push him a little too far, like when Éclair had tried to roughed up Miu and I during my first Underworld field trip, or when Congressmen Ishida had tried to kill the members of the Shinpaku alliance when the one responsible for the Okinawa trap exposed himself. When that happened, well, there was a reason I sometimes considered Sakaki to be the most bestial of my Masters, and one who would no doubt do as well in the Nightworld as he did in the Underworld.

It looked like seeing Miu nearly launch a killing technique against me was something serious enough to qualify for Sakaki to truly focus himself. I doubted it was Miu that anger was focused at though.

I think that if Junzard wasn't already dead, then Sakaki might just be willing to abandon the Katsujin Ken just to get the chance to deal with the Demon God Fist himself.

"She did better this time," I managed to gasp out, feeling the ache in my ribs and the sting in my gut where Miu's fist had found me. "I'm sure she would have stopped on time," I defended the girl I admired, and I was even able to ignore just how hollow the words sounded even to me.

Sakaki eyed me for a moment, and I had little doubt that he knew just how much doubt I actually had in those words, but despite that his face softened and his mouth twitched up a small imitation of his normal cocky grin.

"Oh?" he leered, a teasing tone in his voice as he apparently decided to steer the conversation back into more pleasant tones. "Trusting in the power of love to see you through, Kenichi?" He drew out the word 'love' in a sing song voice, and I couldn't keep a slightly exasperated grin of my own from forming at just how many characteristics my Master seemed to share with the typical kindergartner.

And then I winced as the till then gentle hand of the Elder tightened for a moment, not enough to hurt but enough for me to know that he too had been paying particular attention to the 'L' word when it came to his granddaughter. I could almost feel when the older man forced himself to relax, for once not going into a tirade about how he would only approve of someone who had defeated him for Miu.

It was a touching sign in its own way of the approval the Elder had in our relationship, however tentative it was.

"I don't like this," a new voice chimed in, and I glanced up to the rafter where the final occupant of the dojo rested. "Kenichi should be…. resting."

I was pretty sure I had checked the rafters before the spar between Miu and I had begun and found them empty, but I guess Shigure had snuck in at some time during the very brief fight between the two of us. My weapons Master looked the very picture of ease as she reclined, back propped against one of the roof beams, her pet mouse Tochumaru held in her hands as she did something with him involving miniature umbrellas and a bouncy ball. Despite that, I could tell that the nonchalant woman wasn't nearly as relaxed as she appeared.

"If you're that concerned," Sakaki threw back the rest of his beer, before pulling another bottle out of one of the inner pockets of his frayed vest. With a quick move, he swiped his open hand at the bottle top, cleanly slicing through the glass without so much as chipping the rest of the bottle. "Maybe you should let up a bit on those training sessions of yours?"

A Master of Ryouzanpaku advising someone on easing up on training? If the situation wasn't what it was I would think it one of the signs of the apocalypse. I perked up at that, hoping against hope that Sakaki's words might be enough to sway Shigure.

"He has a lot of catching up to do, so…no," Shigure casually denied, and I slumped down in despair.

"You're just lucky you keep winning at those paper, rock, scissor contest," Sakaki grumbled before throwing back his bizarrely opened beer and taking a swig.

I wasn't certain about the details, and honestly I wished I didn't know what I did know, but apparently even though I was still recovering from the majority of my wounds, it had been deemed by the Masters at large that I was capable of doing some minor training. 'Minor training' in this case meant that they'd only give me to one Master a day instead of to multiple ones. Beyond that, training was pretty much the exact same as it normally was: insane. Despite the grueling routines which most often bordered on 'cruel and unusual' still occurring, they were limited to only an hour or so a day rather than being a constant thing like they usually were.

And also, apparently, they decided who would get to have the day's training by paper, rock, scissor. I mean, honestly. Using a game like that to decide who would get to train? Sakaki wasn't the only one of my Masters who obviously never matured emotionally past kindergarten.

And also surprisingly, it appeared as though Shigure was really, really good at paper, rock, scissor. I had mixed feelings about that particular development. On one hand, it was turning into a good chance to make up for the year and a half of unintended neglect I had dealt the surprisingly insecure Master. Also, at this point I had advanced physically enough so that Shigure was able to focus on techniques with the kusarigami, and because of that I was progressing rather quickly at learning a variety of ways to swing a sickle attached to a chain around.

But on the other hand…

Weapons are scary!

Besides the constant training by Shigure, there was only one other event where I was allowed to practice martial arts at the moment:

The spars with Miu.

And what a mess those were turning out to be.

"Shigure's lessons aside," the Elder finally broke in, his voice just barely touched with amusement, "it looks like todays practice is done for now." Even as he finished his sentence, the amusement had already drained out of his voice. "Once again, Kenichi," he turned to me, giving me a small smile just barely visible through his beard, "thanks for your efforts."

"It's the least I could do," I assured him, though I couldn't quite bring myself to smile completely. It wasn't a topic that could be spoken of with any amount of humor, after all.

When Junazard had kidnapped Miu, it had been because he had wanted to raise a Disciple that was both a user of his own martial arts style, Pencak Silat, and a follower of his path, the Satsujin Ken. To do that, he had done away with a few minor things which might get in his way. Things like her personality. Or her memories. I wasn't certain how he did it, probably through drugs or hypnosis or maybe some bizarre martial arts technique for all I knew. Whatever it was, he had somehow completely managed to block out everything that made Miu, Miu.

The end result was an empty vessel for him to pour his ideals into. Just like with me and Shigure's weapons lessons, if the foundation is strong enough learning a new art is incredibly simple. And for Miu in particular, who was an unnatural prodigy and the result of generations of careful breeding, that potential was much higher than mine even with the endless hours my Masters had put into adjusting my body.

More than that, Junazard hadn't just been focusing on martial arts when he taught Miu. He had fed her anger and hate as well. He had manipulated her until her rage had been magnified, and then he had set her loose. And Miu had always had a lot of rage. Kanou Shou had been the first to see it there, and he had nearly unleashed it himself before he died. But no matter how much potential for wrath Miu had it had only been magnified under the careful tutelage of Junazard.

In the end, though I might have helped, Miu had proven a stronger person and managed to recover herself. But that didn't make the rage go away nor did it make her forget the endless hours of training in the killing arts that the Demon God fist had drilled into her. There was a part of Miu that was very different from the gentle soul of the girl I respected and cared for: a part that howled its rage and bloodlust to the heavens, and that delighted in bloodshed and pain and longed to kill.

And now that that part had been released, there was no putting it back in the can it had come from. It was out there now, stronger than ever, and it needed to be dealt with or else at the wrong moment it could come out and someone's blood would stain the ground. If that were to happen then there would be no coming back for Miu. Not again.

And that was what led us to this scene here, where Miu had nearly killed me under the watchful gazes of her grandfather and two Masters of Ryouzanpaku. Miu had a scar in her heart now, and in typical Ryouzanpaku fashion, it had been determined that that scar had to be done away with.

"Is this really alright?" Sakaki asked his expression once more drifting back to serious.

"Is what alright, Sakaki-kun?" the Elder asked, feigning ignorance again as he drifted towards the door of the dojo. Sakaki gave the older man a direct glare, not liking the apparent disinterest in the topic that the Karate user had brought up.

"You know what I'm talking about, old man," Sakaki retorted rudely. "It's bad enough that both Kenichi and Miu have had to go through so much already. I'm asking if it's really alright to just go ahead and make it worse."

"It worked… with Kenichi," Shigure pointed out, her gaze drifting back to Tochumaru even as she answered. Somehow, however improbably, the mouse had managed to assume a handstand position, and was now using his little feet to turn the miniature umbrella in such a way that the ball was rolling along the top as though he were a circus performer. After a quick glance, I made sure to deliberately turn away.

There were some things just too weird, even for me.

"But that was different," Sakaki retorted, also apparently refusing to look at the performing animal. With another angry sip at his beer he continued. "I mean, this is Miu we're talking about!"

"So it's perfectly alright to do terrible things to me," I noted, giving Sakaki a flat look as I summed up the argument that he was having trouble voicing. "But when it comes to doing terrible things to Miu it's another matter?"

"That's not what I meant," Sakaki grumbled, glaring at the ground with a sheepish expression at my accusations. Despite myself I smiled, not able to hold up the accusatory look. I had forgiven my Masters a long time ago for that particular event.

"Sometimes," the Elder spoke up, his voice somber and with a touch of sadness. "In order to overcome a wound to the heart, an even greater wound must be used."

"But how long until it works?" Sakaki shot back, drinking from his beer again, impatience and aggravation in his voice. "With Kenichi it only took one trip. We've been doing this for weeks now for Miu."

"For however long it takes," the Elder said, his voice firm despite the message behind his words.

It was almost heartbreaking to hear the old man affirm his decision, but in a way I understood it. Miu had a scar on her heart now, and Ryouzanpaku already had an established history of dealing with those in a straightforward matter.

For me, the scar had come after I had been killed by Koukin. In my case, the wound had been fear and the treatment had been more fear. For Miu, the scar had been dealt by Junazard, and the wound was unrestrained violence. In her case, the treatment was more unrestrained violence.

Violence on me.

There was no way of knowing when the conditioning of Junazard might kick in these days. Whenever Miu started to practice Martial Arts, there was always a chance that she might slip back into the lethal training she had received. So in order to combat that response, the Elder has asked me to be her target during those moments. It was probably a request that indicated the Elder was aware of just how close the two of us were, and was a mark of just how ruthless the old man could be when he needed to be.

Because even though the Elder made sure to step in and stop Miu whenever she slipped used a lethal technique, it didn't change the fact that Miu was left with the realization that she had just tried to kill me: me, the one who cared for her, who had sworn to protect her, her first friend, the one who had defied a kingdom to rescue her. Maybe it was presumptuous of me to assume it, but me, the one who she maybe, probably, kind of lov… had feelings for.

Each time she slipped, she was left with the horrifying realization that if it hadn't been for the diligence of her grandfather she would have killed me right in front of the watching Masters. The shame of the action, the cold reality of what she almost did must be like a knife in her heart, and today hadn't been the first time that she had left the dojo almost in tears.

And it was those feelings that the Elder was counting on to help combat the violent instincts that she now had. Like some sort of Pavlovian experiment the Elder was trying to ingrain new instincts into Miu yet again, instincts that made her more aware of when she was about to slip into dangerous techniques or when she was about to use lethal violence.

It was a cruel treatment. It was cruel to Miu, forcing her to bear the knowledge of what the consequences of her lack of restraint would have had on me. It was cruel to me, because regardless of the reasons, I was going to have to bear with Miu hurting me, nearly killing me. It was cruel to both of us, because even knowing that, and knowing that the memories of this training will never leave and could even become a strain on our friendship, we had both volunteered for this course of action.

It was cruel to the Elder, because it was him who had come up with this plan. I had seen before how hard it was for parents or family to train their children in Martial Arts. Martial Arts were by nature dangerous and physical demanding activities, and in order to fully train young Disciples it was often necessary for the Master to do cruel things. For parents to do such things to their children was often hard, and often parent Masters would have to make hard choices in order to raise their children Disciples. This was probably the hardest of such choices I had ever seen, or most likely ever will.

It was cruel to the other Masters of Ryouzanpaku, because it meant that they would have to stand by, unable to help as both I, as their Disciple, and Miu, as their beloved family member, were put through this painful experience.

It was cruel to just about everyone, in the end. But then, what other choice was there? Ignore the damage that had been done to Miu, hope for the best, and pray that there never came a time when she lost her self-restraint in battle? That was a sure fire recipe for disaster. Or merely train her normally, seeking to rewrite the new instincts she had acquired through regular exercise and hope that the new lessons will stick? But without the negative association with her new killing urges then there was no way of knowing when she might get tempted by them when things got heated.

In the end, the best way was the cruelest way: a way where everyone suffers and no one is left happy at the end. How nostalgic. Those types of endings do have a way of popping up around me, don't they?

And despite it all, there was that little fear as well, one I harbored secretly. 'How long?' Sakaki had asked, the desperation for assurance from the Elder unsaid in his voice as he tried to learn just how much time it would take until Miu was alright, until this painful experience was over and the cheerful girl which was half daughter and half little sister to the Karate user, to all the Masters of Ryouzanpaku, would return to normal and things would be alright.

The lingering doubt in my head, reaffirmed through personal experience: that there were some wounds which you never truly recovered from. That there was some pain that never went away, some scars which never faded. There were events which indelibly marked the soul, which changed a person's life forever with no hope of ever truly going back to the way things used to be before.

"She might never recover."

"Oi, oi!" the voice in my ear startled me, and I glanced up from my thoughts in surprise to find Sakaki's huge form looming over me. I nearly stumbled when the larger man threw an arm around my shoulder, and the Karate user grinned arrogantly down at me, his cocky grin wide. "Now that's quitter talk! What happened to believing in the power of love?"

"Eh?" I blinked, only then realizing that I had spoken the last thought out loud. Backtracking, I forced a more confident smile to my face. Then, realizing what Sakaki had been hinting at I blushed instead. "Sakaki-shishou!" I yelped, my ears red as I realized what he the older man was hinting at.

"I should go check…on Miu," Shigure also broke in, though I wasn't certain if her statement was in response to anything in particular or if she had just decided then and there for no particular reason on that course of action. Though the incident with the Satori had first made me aware of it, long hours of training with Shigure had helped affirm in my head that there was often a lot going unsaid in Shigure's mind.

Whatever the reason for it, Shigure wasted no time in putting action to words as Sakaki continued to mercilessly tease me in what was most likely an attempt to lighten the mood my accidental statement earlier might have helped set. The weapon user swung down from the roof beam she had been resting on, though unlike the rest of the world it wasn't so she could walk out of the dojo on the floor like a normal human. Instead, she somehow managed to find footholds on the completely flat roofing beam she had been laying on earlier.

The end result was her hanging off the ceiling like some sort of lavender bat. Her hair fell down around her in a dark wave as it succumbed to gravity. Somehow though, defying all the laws of physics, the edge of her too short lavender kimono remained in place, and I could only wonder if it was some bizarre martial arts technique, or perhaps some secret womanly art which allowed for the preservation of her modesty as she neatly walked out of the room via the ceiling.

Honestly, I was kind of glad to see her go. It made what I was planning to do next much easier without her watchful eyes on me.

"Now, now," the Elder's voice brought me away from watching my youngest Master leave. "That's enough teasing for now, Sakaki-kun. Ken-chan is still recovering, after all."

"Tch," the Master who was probably purposefully crushing my head between his biceps and his forearm tsked, before releasing me with feigned reluctance. "Fine old man. Kenichi," he turned his attention to me with forced casualness. "You should probably head back to your room to get some rest. It looks like dinner will be up to Kensei again."

"Actually," I began, rubbing the back of my head sheepishly and hoping that I would be able to pull off innocent long enough for me to accomplish my goals. "I was thinking of visiting my family for the night."

"Eh?" Sakaki grunted, giving me an odd look as cocked his head to the side slightly. "You didn't mention that before." The Elder patted his beard slightly as he cocked one of his bushy eyebrows at me.

"Well," I admitted sheepishly, one hand coming up to rub the back of my head. "It's been a bit since I'd been able to see them, after all. I haven't exactly been in the condition for it."

And wasn't that the truth. My father was leery enough about me staying at Ryouzanpaku as it was. The one time he had come by to check on me and seen just what kind of training I was undergoing he had been disturbed enough by it to pull a shotgun on the Masters and then tried to rescue me while shooting that shotgun in broad daylight with lethal intent. Even if he had finally relented to allowing me to undergoing the strict daily training I had always made it a point never to let him see me after some of my more dangerous Underworld trips. I wasn't quite sure how he would react to some of the injuries I had received during some of my more strenuous battles.

Considering just how wounded the trip to Tirat had left me, I had to be doubly sure that I was properly healed enough to pass inspection before meeting him again. In fact, in order to keep even Honoka from visiting the dojo we hadn't even told my family that I had returned from the trip until just a few days ago.

"Hmph," Sakaki grunted, turning his head away gruffly. "Meh," he shrugged. "Well, it's not like you can do anything else without dying at the moment. Might as well get out of the house for a bit then."

Despite the harsh words, I knew my Master well enough to understand his tactic approval to my idea. In fact, his response was downright encouraging in his own coarse way. Sakaki might be a roughneck to the core, but he was a man who took his responsibilities seriously. One of those responsibilities had been to keep me safe during the search for Miu, and that had resulted in me being kidnapped and beaten half dead. I could hazard a guess that giving me a little family time without complaint might be part of his roundabout way of trying to apologize for his perceived failure.

Well, that was one Master down. With Shigure off to comfort Miu, both Ma and Akisame busy at their respective practices, and Apachai off doing who knows what it was he got off to when he left the dojo by himself, that left only the Elder to convince.

"That sounds like a fine idea, Ken-chan," the old man nodded as well, a small smile appearing behind his beard. "It is important to spend time with family."

Good. It looked like his concern for Miu was making this easier for me. With his own family recently endangered, it seemed that he was more aware of the importance of me spending time with my own kin as well. Actually, that made me feel a little worse about my deception, especially in the case of the Elder.

I hadn't mentioned just who it was that had stepped in to help Miu and I in those last moments before Sakaki found us. I didn't think mentioning that I had met Miu's father, the Elder's prodigal son, would accomplish anything more than making the already tired old man even more hurt.

"Thanks, Masters," I bowed, and the internal relief I felt probably leaked out a bit in my external behavior. With my head still down I tried my best to restrain myself from any further reaction.

I had worried that it might be harder for me to get away from Ryouzanpaku. My Masters did have a history of keeping me from departing on occasions. Sometimes it was to keep me from shirking my training, while other times it was to try and keep me from getting involved in anything dangerous.

What I was planning on doing tonight was definitely among the latter.

*Scene Break*

Despite my intentions, I did end up going to visit my family a bit after I left Ryouzanpaku. I had told the Elder and Sakaki that I might be home a bit late tonight and that they shouldn't worry if I did but even though I implied that the reason I would be late was spending time with my parents and sister I only spent about an hour with my family, just enough time for me to have some dinner and then change my clothes.

After that I departed into the night, telling my family that I was heading back to the Ryouzanpaku. I felt a bit like a naughty child at that point who had told his parents he would be spending the night at a friend's house while the friend did the reverse so that the two could sneak out and spend the entire night away doing mischief. The comparison was probably accurate in that mischief was most likely the least of what I was about to get into.

The thing about Tokyo is that it is a big city. Sometimes it's hard to comprehend just how big it really was. It was officially split up into a number of different suburbs, and each of those suburbs, while not so big on their own, generally tended to have a population which could qualify it as a city all by itself. While most of the time I spent my day to day life in one of the outlying suburbs of Tokyo every once in a while, usually due to Underworld field trips, I would find myself taking trips into some of the more lively areas of Tokyo. Generally, those areas were the ones pretty rife with crime or corruption, as otherwise there wouldn't be much need for Masters like those that inhabited Ryouzanpaku to go there.

With that in mind, the area I was heading might loosely be called a red-light district.

It's a bit of a misleading term, when taken in perspective. Most of the time when people think of red-light districts in Tokyo they think of Roppungi or Shinjuku. Both those districts were famous for their nightclubs, Roppungi typically catering to the older business crowd whereas Shinjuku was favored by the seedier or more desperate types. However, each of the districts of Tokyo could be considered a city unto themselves, and with that in mind it was logical to assume that each individual city might have its own den of iniquity just waiting to be discovered by the desperate or lonely.

The one I was heading to was in Asakusa. Asakusa was one of the older and more historic sections of Tokyo, and typically was more well known for its tourism then it's nightlife, though that hadn't always been the case. It was once considered the premiere spot to spend an evening, probably about eighty years ago.

An older, more historic area, with an outdated record of unsavory activity: it wasn't quite where I had been expecting to find her, which was probably why it had taken me nearly a month of looking, but found her I had.

"Now I just got to hope that this works out," I muttered, closing my eyes and slumping forward as best I could, supporting myself from the hanging strap as well as my neighbors on the crowded train. The Tokyo public transportation system was a mostly effective one, and could generally be counted on getting you to your destination on time. However, that didn't always mean the trip was comfortable.

Due to the vast number of people living in the city there was generally a lot of people using the trains during the day, but at two times, the morning right before general work hours began and night right after those hours were over, you could always count on the trains to be packed. Right now was the very end of the second busy period, but even though the crowds were starting to thin it was still so crowded on the train that I could feel contact on every side of me as I patiently rode. I was thankful I wasn't the claustrophobic sort as I was hemmed in by the human mass in the train beside me.

Generally, in these kinds of situation you could count on the Japanese to do one of either two things. Either the other people surrounding you would do their best not to make eye contact and pretend that they too weren't butt to crotch with complete strangers all around them, or they would take advantage of the situation to start groping whichever traveler they found particularly attractive. Sadly, despite the immorality of the second option, it still tended to happen way too often. Luckily, I wasn't the gender that typically had to fear that kind of attention, so I had expected my soft words to just be ignored by the rest of the populace.

So when someone behind me spoke up in response, I actually blinked in surprise.

"Hope what… works out?"

No way.

Despite how crowded it was I managed to crane my neck to look behind me and came eye to eye with none other than Kousaka Shigure.

"Aiii!" I let loose a manly, albeit high pitched shout of surprise, and promptly received the annoyance of just about everyone else around me as I tried to jump away from the unexpectedly close Master only to find myself rebuffed by the wall of travelers blocking my escape. In a funny kind of way, I managed to make a few inches headway into the soft bodies until like a spring that had been pushed tight they expanded, forcing me back into the patiently waiting Shigure, this time facing her.

I blushed bright red when the collision with Shigure ended up leaving me feeling like the second type of train rider, the kind that didn't just wait patiently. Still, it wasn't my fault! It was Shigure's fault for having such enormous breasts, damnit!

"Hello…Kenichi," Shigure told me in her usual blank voice. She endured my sudden contact with herself with her usual stoicism, though I was willing to suspect that she was secretly finding my antics amusing.

"Shi-Shi-Shigure-san!" I yelped, still blushing as I tried to once more find my happy place where I was able to ignore the physical contact that was typical on crowded trains. It was made extremely hard when standing so close to my Master. "What are you doing here?"

"Nightworld…field trip," she told me directly, and I froze as I realized what she was saying.

"Nightworld field trip?" I repeated, my voice incredulous. "By yourself? Shigure-san, are you sure you should be doing that?" I asked, worry starting to seep in. Realizing that my concerned question might be misunderstood, I hurriedly continued, wishing I had the space to raise my hands in a placating gesture. Well, I could raise my hands, but giving the situation it probably wouldn't come off as placating and more as perverted. "I mean," I hastily added, "I know that you're a Master and all, Shigure-san, but you should know by know how different the Nightworld is from the Underworld. The Nightworld can be really dangerous in ways the Underworld just can't understand."

"Shouldn't I be saying that to you then?" Shigure's response was still stoic, but the same recently acquired familiarity that had let me identify her earlier amusement let me pick up the slight edge of chastisement in her tone. "Weren't you planning… on doing this alone too?"

"Oh," I managed to get out, deflating. I found myself glancing to the side ashamedly at having been caught by Shigure. Then I blinked, realizing the implication of her accusation. I had thought that I had managed to get out of Ryouzanpaku without raising any concern. Heck, by the time I had made my excuses and left Shigure had already gone after Miu. "How did you know?" I couldn't help but ask, trying to figure out how the older woman had managed to ferret out my secret excursion.

"When you're planning something dangerous…" she began, blinking once as she did so, "…your mole turns red."

"It does?" I yelped, completely shocked at the fact that my body apparently had a tell that I hadn't even realized. And one that was so obvious and uncontrollable too! Then it was my turn to blink again. "Wait," I began feeling completely confused. "I have a mole?"

"Just…joking," Shigure told me, and it was probably because I was so physically close that I was able to make out the faintest twist of her lips as she gave one of her miniscule smiles. "Miu fell for that one… too."

"Shigure-san," I sighed, not sure what else to say at that statement. I was becoming increasingly aware of just how playful the poker faced woman really was, but a joke that straightforward was just a little too much to swallow even now. As though she had had enough fun at this point, Shigure's smile faded back away to her normal expression.

"It's the duty of the Master… to know the Disciple," she gave me her real explanation without any further prompting. "I know Kenichi enough by now to tell when something is bothering him. If something was bothering you about Martial Arts… then you would have already asked Akisame. Since you didn't… that meant the Nightworld."

I think I would have preferred having the mole as the real reason. It was somewhat unnerving sometimes to realize just how well my Masters truly knew me. Like when they seemed to know before I did when I was about to make an escape attempt, or like how they knew when my body was fully healed even before I realized it. Still, despite the concern I had at being too well understood, it was somewhat comforting as well, especially since it was Shigure that was displaying the knowledge.

"I guess I can't fool my Master," I sighed, though it wasn't an entirely unhappy sound either. I had been worrying that maybe Shigure had been left out of the general relationship I had with my Masters, but here was proof that even if she had been originally she was quickly making her own place in my life.

Shigure seemed to think this too, or maybe she was just happy that I had referred to her as my Master, because I swear she managed to preen herself a bit, despite the fact that she didn't move her body or change her physical expression at all.

Well, aside from her bringing one of her fists up in her trademarked 'Yes!' gesture; something which was extremely noticeable, considering our current physical proximity.

Of course, then the otherwise heartwarming scene was interrupted as I recalled just where I was going, and who I was planning to meet.

"Shigure-san," I began, my nervousness already returning. "It would be best if you were to just go home now." Still in mid hand clench, Shigure paused, her eyes drifting down to meet mine. "I don't want your help for this one. No," I shook my head, firmly convinced of myself. "You SHOULDN'T get involved this time."

"Kenichi," she cut me off, an edge to her tone that was pretty rare for her. It was the same voice she had used when she had scolded me for stepping on the edges of the tatami mats back when we had gone sword hunting together, a tone she saw me doing something dangerous enough to warrant immediate correction. "It isn't safe for you to be alone. Even if Kushinada promised not to involve Yomi… there's no way of knowing how long that will last."

It was an unusually verbose statement for Shigure, which was making this trip one of the few times where I had ever seen my youngest Master depart from her usual stoicism. It was something I noticed before, but for all that Shigure rarely spoke her silence usually wasn't because she disliked speaking. It was more that Shigure only really spoke up when she felt she had something to say. If the situation was different, I might have been moved to hear her speaking so much on my behalf.

However, this wasn't time for that sort of emotion.

"Shigure-san," I began, trying to keep my voice reasonable. "I'm not going on a trip for Kushinada-san. This time the trip is personal."

Shigure blinked at my confession, but that was the extent of her reaction. It was once more due to how close we were that I could make out the tiny movement of her head as it cocked slightly to the side as though to say, 'So?'

"I know that you like to go on these trips with me," I continued, trying to keep my voice level and reasonable. "But doesn't Ryouzanpaku have a 'right to privacy' policy when it comes to personal things like this? Like when you go on your sword hunting trips, no one else tries to interfere with them. This is kind of like that."

For a moment I thought that the argument might work. Then Shigure spoke up. "Next time, you can come along…. on my trips," she offered, and I would have slumped at the complete missing of the point if I had the space to do so.

"Thank you for the offer," I mumbled out, though inside my thoughts were a little less calm.

Why on earth would I WANT to go on another of those trips? Weapons are scary!

"And even if it's private," Shigure added after that, "Kenichi often… asks private things too." I winced again, knowing now that my prying into Shigure's history along with my butting in on Sakaki's grudge match with Hongou were no doubt coming back to bite me. And that time with Ma's brother. Or that time when I had asked about Miu's parents…

I suppose this could be considered karmic retribution for my nosiness.

"Okay," I acknowledged, trying not to let my nervousness show, but judging from the coolness in my hands it wasn't a battle I was winning. I wasn't certain if the sweat was coming from my nervousness over the way this argument was going, or my concerns about what was about to happening, but I could feel the moisture gathering in my palms and under my arms. It was warm enough in the car that most people would simply assume that I was just being affected by the heat of the press of bodies, but I wasn't certain if Shigure would make that assumption herself.

Still, I continued, trying to talk Shigure into going back to the dojo without me through well-reasoned arguments. "Even if that happens sometimes, I'd still like to have the chance to take care of this on my own. It's just a little errand that I have to run, and then I'll be back to Ryouzanpaku in no time!"

I gave Shigure my best smile, trying my hardest to be convincing. For a moment Shigure was silent, and I had the brief hope that I had managed to persuade her to head on home without me. Finally, she spoke up again.

"Kenichi," she began, her voice even slower than it normally was. "Is it going to be… dangerous?"

"No!" I quickly assured her, glancing briefly to the side as I did so. "Not at all!"

"You're… lying," Shigure noted instantly, and I felt my eyelid twitch at how quickly she had managed to see through me. Okay, having someone know me that well was definitely feeling less of a relief then it did earlier.

"Okay," I hastily backtracked, talking a little too quickly as gave a shaky laugh. "It's going to be a little dangerous, but not that much. It's nothing that I can't handle on my own and even on the off chance that things do get a little rough it shouldn't be that hard to calm every one down…"

"You're still… lying," Shigure interrupted me again, and this time I could definitely make out her eyebrows as they narrowed a little.

"And just how do you know that?" I snapped, a bit aggrieved that she was proving so apt at reading me when I could barely make out her facial expressions.

"When you lie… your mole…" she began and I couldn't stop myself from interrupting her.

"Not that again!"

"…Miu did that too," she noted, sounding slightly amused at the same process that Miu and I apparently shared. It only lasted for a moment before she was back to her blank face again. "Kenichi," she started, this time giving me a forward look that I knew meant she was being serious. "You are my… Disciple. The Disciple of everyone at Ryouzanpaku. After what happened… with Miu, everyone is very worried. If this is going to be dangerous, then I want… to go with you. No one could stand… having something like that happen again."

Despite my frustration at her intractableness, for a moment I glanced to the side in shame. I knew what she was saying. For so long Ryouzanpaku was like a haven to me, a place where nothing could go wrong and I would always be safe no matter how dangerous the rest of the world was. All of the Masters were so strong, so confident, that it seemed impossible that anything could ever do more than inconvenience them. Miu had been like that too. Ever since that day when I had watched her stand up to those Yakuza, she had been an inspiration to me. She had been a pillar of strength, unbowed before the weight of the world and willing to risk everything to stand up against evil.

And then, right beneath the nose of her Grandfather and Sakaki, she had been taken away as simple as that. She had been maimed, not her body but her mind and soul. And now, no matter how much I tried to deny it, every time I saw her I saw just how intransient the safety of Ryouzanpaku was.

And not just Miu either. Before, when Apachai had almost died right in front of my eyes, or when Sakaki hadn't been able to eke out more than a draw against his lifelong rival; the seeming invincibility of my Masters wasn't as true as I had come to believe. The worry that had been displayed when Apachai had almost died, the pall that continues to hang now that Miu was trying to recover; it was a sign, I suppose, of how much everyone at Ryouzanpaku cares for each other.

It was a comforting thing to know that I too counted among the numbers of Ryouzanpaku. But the truth was I was also the weakest of the dojo, the most likely to fall. Because of that the same worry I had for the safety of my Masters and my other Disciple must be something that they too feel for me. It shouldn't surprise me that Shigure, after she managed to figure out what I was planning, had gone out of her way to keep an eye on me before I did something dangerous.

Despite that comfort, it didn't change the fact that I absolutely did not want anyone along with me on this Nightworld excursion.

"Shigure-san, please," I begged, not even trying to argue anymore. If she had managed to figure this much out, then lying anymore wasn't going to change anything. "I know you're worried, but this trip is too dangerous for someone as inexperienced as you to come along." Shigure blinked again, and I got the distinct impression that she was somewhat insulted that I had just claimed that something I was about to do was too dangerous for her, a Master, to do as well. Well, tough. "This isn't like the other times. I only have a vague idea what's going to happen this time. I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to get myself out of this in one piece if something goes wrong, much less anyone else. Please," if there had been more space I might have gone to my knees to beg for this request, "please just go home and let me do this."

"If it's that dangerous…" Shigure began, her eyes narrowing again. "Then I won't… let you go alone."

"Shigure-san," I continued, grimacing. "If you come you might make it even more dangerous." It was the truth. I had certain advantages in what was going to happen, not the least of which being that I was well aware of who I was going to see, and what they were capable of. It was a cold comfort that I had at least a chance of a positive outcome. But Shigure had no idea where I was going, or what might happen, and there was no way I was going to explain it to her.

Mostly because if she really knew what I was planning she would most likely knock me out, tie me up, get the rest of the Masters to help guard me, and never let me out again. Either that or commit me to an asylum.

This little adventure ranked even higher than 'approach the Shikome and hope it runs' on the list of stupid things I have ever done.

"If it's that dangerous…" Shigure repeated, her eyes narrowing even further, "then maybe… you shouldn't go."

"I can't," I hissed, my frustration getting to me as I felt my temper fray. The simple part was supposed to be me just getting to my destination. All the hard stuff wasn't supposed to happen until I was there. This was exactly the reason I had tried to sneak away while Shigure wasn't around in the first place. "This is the only chance I'll probably ever get to meet her!"

"…Her?" Shigure repeated, and I caught the telltale signs of curiosity in her voice. I bit my tongue, cursing myself for having let that slip. For several long moments the silence between us stretched on, me not wanting to let anything else slip and Shigure…

Well, who knows what Shigure was thinking.

Finally, my Master spoke.

"Is it about…the name?" she finally asked, head still cocked to the side as she watched me.

"The name?" I repeated, the change in subject actually catching me by surprise. Shigure continued to study me closely as my brow creased. "What name?"

"The name you won't… speak," she elaborated in typical Shigure fashion. "The one the wolf… mentioned."

"Oh," I said, my face tightening briefly. Shigure didn't have to be a Master to make out the change in my expression. Considering how close our faces were anyone could have seen it. I bit my tongue again, not wanting to say something I'd regret later. It was a mark of just how sore that subject was that I very nearly said something I'd regret in response to even one of my Masters mentioning that subject.

Shigure continued to study me for a second, and then gave a brief nod. "I thought… so." Somehow, it seemed to me that Shigure was almost sad at that moment. I wasn't certain why I thought that, seeing as there was no real indication of any kind of emotion in her placid expression. Despite that, I still couldn't quite keep that thought out of me head.

"Kenichi…" Shigure began to continue, before trailing off midway through one of her customary pauses. I saw her eyes glance to the side briefly, before they settled back on me. Finally, she spoke again. "Is this another of your… zebras?"

"Zebras?" I repeated, before remembering what she meant. The word for 'trauma' in Japanese was originally from another language, English actually, and because of that it sounded a bit different from more traditional Japanese words. Most of the time when a Japanese person said 'trauma' it instead came out like 'tora-uma', or tiger-horse, the word for 'zebra'. Understanding just what Shigure was asking, it was my turn to look away. "Yeah," I muttered, wishing I could keep my voice more firm. "It's about one of my zebras."

Shigure gave a brief nod at my confession, before her expression changed slightly. With the narrowing of her eyes and the pressing of her lips, I could definitely tell just how determined she was.

"Then just like… before. I want to help Kenichi get over his… zebra." And with that declaration I realized my chances of getting rid of Shigure had effectively been reduced to zero. With a sigh of helpless frustration I leaned back, finally putting space between Shigure and me as I ran a damp hand through my hair. This did not bode well for how the rest of the night was going to go. If escaping the dojo unnoticed, the supposedly easiest part of the trip, was going this wrong then how was the rest going to end up?

Wait… Why did I have space around me?

Giving my surroundings a quick look I realized that despite how packed the train remained, everyone around Shigure and I had somehow managed to pull back, giving us about a foot of space between themselves and us. It looked really uncomfortable as salarymen and careerwomen as well as teenagers and party goers all packed themselves closely in order to avoid being near the two of us. Even as I looked around, I realized that everyone else in the train car was avoiding my eyes.

Thinking back on the conversation that I was just having I felt a slow flush forming on my face as I realized just how crazy it must sound to those who had no knowledge of either the Nightworld or the Underworld.

Burying my head in my hands, I sighed again. This night just wasn't going to go well. I could feel it already.

*Scene Break*

"Kenichi…" Shigure began, for once sounding a little bit nervous as I folded my arms in front of her. "Are you sure… about this?"

"Absolutely," I said, not backing down in the slightest. When Shigure turned to look at me directly I unfolded my arms to point purposefully at the topic of our discussion. "No, giving me the puppy dog eyes isn't going to change my mind." I told her, and she slouched a bit more. Truthfully, Shigure's puppy dog eyes most fully resembled her normal expression, but once more experience with interpreting the miniscule changes in her facial features managed to give me the edge. "If you're going to come along, then there's no way you're bringing your father's sword."

Shigure turned to follow my fingers to the locker I was indicating. It was pretty common for most train stations to have a wide selection of coin lockers available for the travelers to use at their convenience. A lot of time salarymen or students would make various side trips before they completed their trip from their jobs or schools to their homes. Because of that, while they were out drinking or shopping they would often have a lot of different baggage that they didn't want to lug around like their briefcases or their backpacks. The coin lockers ended up being convenient places to store those kinds of things, letting them pick up their belongings when they returned to catch their next train.

Though I doubt that the lockers were ever used to conveniently store a three feet long masterwork katana, there conveniently happened to be lockers large enough to store even that ungainly thing.

"But I don't… want to," Shigure said, somewhat plaintively as she clutched her father's sword to her chest much in the same way Miu tended to cuddle kitties whenever she managed to catch one.

"Then go home," I told her, hoping that despite everything she had said earlier she would back down. Honestly, I could understand her reluctance. Her father's sword was one of the most sought after blades in the Underworld. It was crafted using metal-smithing techniques that had been lost for centuries until her father had managed to resurrect them through years of experimentation. There were members of the Satsujin Ken that regularly tried to kill her in order to obtain it for themselves.

Leaving a priceless artifact like that in a coin locker in the middle of Asakusa was definitely not the smartest of ideas. But having something like that on her when we got to where we were going was even less an intelligent choice.

For a second I hoped that Shigure would back down, but then she took a deep breath and selected a locker. It took a little bit of effort, but eventually she managed to wedge the enormous katana in. Before she shut the door, she paused and turned to look at me.

At least, I thought it was to look at me. "Tochumaru," she said, and I yelped as I felt a sudden wiggling emerging from the center of my back.

"What the-!" I got out, before the wiggling managed to make its way up to my shoulder and to my amazement Shigure's pet mouse emerged from between my jacket and my shirt, giving a soft 'Chiu!' noise as the sneaky little rodent gave a cocky salute. "When the hell did you get in there?" I demanded, so nonplussed by Tochumaru's sudden emergence that I couldn't help myself.

"I asked Tochumaru… to watch Kenichi," Shigure explained, and I blinked, wondering just when the mouse had started following me around. Actually, that was a little freaky. I hadn't even noticed when the pet had managed conceal himself in the clothes I was freaking wearing.

"Are you some kind of ninja?" I couldn't stop myself from asking. I swear, the little guy actually put his paws together, two digits extended with the rest wrapped around each other, and then made another noise which sounded disturbingly like he was saying 'Nin! Nin!'

When the hell did my life get this weird?

Even as I was trying to wrap my mind around what I had just witnessed, the little guy scampered down my arm before leaping a surprisingly long distance in order to land on Shigure's waiting palm. Nodding to herself slowly, Shigure placed the mouse in the locker with her Katana, and once more the mouse saluted before reaching behind himself and pulling a miniature set of nunchucks that he had improbably managed to conceal in his fur. With one last salute, Tochumaru settled himself down while Shigure closed the locker, removing the key from the door and pocketing it quickly.

"It will be safe… with Tochumaru," she concluded, giving another slow nod before she turned to face me, an expectant look on her face.

"…Right," I finally said, concluding that there were some things I was probably better off not thinking about too much. "Time to go then." Woodenly, I turned around and began walking away into the city, Shigure following beside me easily.

For a while the two of us walked in silence, and not for the first time I was reminded of just how peculiar Shigure really was. If it had been anyone else that had forced their way onto my trip then I had little doubt there would be quite a few questions being directed at me almost immediately. Things like 'where are we going', and 'what are we doing' would have been the most obvious of questions, and probably pretty important ones too. I had already revealed that the errand for the night was going to be dangerous and that this trip would involve elements of the Nightworld. Those two facts would be enough to draw curiosity, if not the caution, of anyone else.

Despite that though, Shigure seemed content to just walk quietly beside me as I began leading us through the maze of buildings that made up the district of Asakusa. It struck me again just how odd a couple we must look to the casual observer: me, still a highschooler, dressed in a thin long sleeve shirt and light jacket, and her, still the age where she could be mistaken for a student dressed in a short kimono and long trench coat.

Actually, when put that way we probably didn't look that odd at all. A young man and a young woman, dressed up in semi-formal clothing out together late at night: we probably looked more like a couple going out together for a date then we did a Martial Arts Master and Disciple combo or a Kai specialist and his unwanted bodyguard.

The thought was actually a little unsettling, and I gave Shigure a quick look from the corner of my eye. She looked just a little off without her customary katana though I knew that with her trench coat she was nowhere near disarmed. Despite the concealing nature of her outer garment her inner kimono was still bordering on obscenely short, and I could make out flashes of her legs as she walked with a long stride to keep up with me.

It was then that I realized that Shigure was actually shorter than me. My youngest Master was only about average height for a Japanese female, and even if I wasn't particularly tall myself I still managed to have about an inch or so over the swordswoman. The fact that I was actually taller than one of my Masters, well, other than Ma, triggered a strange feeling of vertigo for a few moments.

"What… is it?" Shigure's voice broke me away from my wondering thoughts, and I blinked, realizing that at some point while I was studying her I had turned my head in her direction. Though Shigure didn't turn her head herself, I could make out her own pupils as she watched me from the corner of her eye in return.

"Nothing!" I instantly defended, half lifting my hands up in a defensive gesture before realizing that both my quick response and my sudden movement probably just made me look even more suspicious. Shigure's eyes lingered on me for a few more moments before they slowly turned back towards the front. I fought the urge to release a sigh of relief as she apparently let the topic drop until she spoke back up again and I re-tensed.

"Why… my father's sword?" she asked, and I blinked for a second as I tried to figure out what she meant by that question.

"What do you mean?" I asked, feeling less guilty about looking at Shigure now that we were actually engaging in combat.

"I have many other… weapons," she elaborated, and she briefly plucked at the hem of her coat. I could make out the metallic chink as some of her weapons clinked against each other at the shaking. "Why just… my father's sword?"

"Oh," I nodded, realizing what she meant. It must seem strange to her that I would insist that she remove only that particular weapon when she was aware that I already knew just how well armed she was even without it. I looked down for a moment, debating in my head just how to answer her question without tipping her off to just what I was planning on doing.

She was still well armed enough to knock me out and tie me up, after all.

"Because it is precious to you," I finally answered, still looking at the ground. It was my turn to be glancing out of the corner of my eye again as Shigure turned her head slightly so she could look more directly at me. I waited a moment to give her time to ask the questions that response would no doubt raise, but instead Shigure just waited patiently. I wasn't certain if it was because she just expected me to continue without prompting, or if she just didn't think that voicing her questions was actually worth speaking over.

Whatever the reason, I continued on. If the chances of both of us getting out of this alive and in one piece were going to be anything other than zero, than I would have to tell her at least a little of background.

"What do you know about kitsune, Shigure-san?" I asked her, giving her the first real clue about what it was we were going to see tonight.

"Kit…sune?" Shigure repeated slowly, head cocking to the side slightly. "They are… delicious," she finally concluded.

Unable to stop myself, I turned and gawked at the completely unexpected response. "Delicious?" I repeated, my voice squeaking with the absolute shock I was feeling at her answer. Okay. That wasn't anything that I had been prepared for, not even remotely.

In retrospect, I guess it kind of made sense. Shigure was raised in the wild by her aesthetic father after all. I suppose they wouldn't be too picky about just what kind of animal they caught for the night's dinner pot. With just the two of them it wasn't like she had much opportunity for reading any books about the mystic species, nor a chance to really hear anything about them from any other type of media. And from what I remember from Akisame's story about her father he really didn't seem the type to go out of his way to tell bed time stories or fairy tales or anything.

The man had thought the best thing he could do for his daughter was die in a horrific way right in front of her to serve as a warning about what happened to those who lived evil lives, after all.

Still.

Delicious?

"Really?" I finally asked, not quite sure how else to respond to the bizarre answer. I think Shigure was aware of just how strange her answer really was because she nodded briefly before making sure to carefully look away, obscuring her face with her bangs as she did so. "Huh," I finally grunted, wondering if foxes really were as tasty as she seemed to think before I shook my head.

"That aside," I began again slowly, "you do know some of the other myths about them, right?"

"Only… a little," she told me slowly, still looking away. "I don't know everything about this like… Kenichi does."

"I don't know everything," I told her absently as I still struggled with Shigure's unexpected ignorance. "I only know what I know."

It was only a second after I finished speaking that I froze, missing a step and nearly falling over in my shock.

Why the hell had I said it like that? I grimaced, my eyes closing as hearing Hanekawa's trademarked catchphrase from my own lips put a dagger through my chest. Breathe, I told myself. Just breathe. It will pass. It always does.

It only took me a second to recover from my self-inflicted paralysis, but I had been dealing with those memories for nearly three and a half years now and getting over moments like these was becoming easier as time went on. Still, even as I recovered and continued walking I caught sight of Shigure watching me, her eyelids narrowed slightly as she took note of my reaction.

"Kitsune," I began immediately, not giving her time to ask a question she probably wasn't going to voice anyway, "like wolves, and tankui, are one of the species of animals that were commonly thought to have magical powers back in the old days."

"Like… that wolf," Shigure nodded slowly, and a glance at her was enough to confirm that my suspicions of her distaste were dead on. It looked like Shigure remembered well the encounter with the wolf, and it looked like she still didn't like the creature.

"Somewhat," I nodded, slowly. "But in legends most wolves didn't have much to do with humans. They either guarded them or ate them, and that was about it. Kitsune on the other hand, they tended to like humans a lot more, or at least spend more time around them."

I shook my head, and tried to find the best way to sum up dozens, even hundreds of legends involving kitsune into a quick lesson that I could finish up before we made it to our destination.

"For the most part, kitsune tended to be mischievous and mostly harmless. They liked to play tricks on humans, but every once in a while they would grow genuinely attached to people as well. They have the ability to make illusions, or change their shape, and they could even possess people as well if they wanted to. Generally, if they didn't like someone they would trap them in an illusion that would end with them doing something embarrassing afterwards. But if they did like someone they would go out of their way to protect and help them.

"There are two kinds of foxes," I continued, "the 'zenko', the good foxes, and the 'yako', the field foxes. The zenko were also called the 'Inari-Kitsune' and were thought to be in the service of the goddess Inari, the patron of blacksmiths and warriors. They are generally benevolent and serve as messengers to the kami. The yako, also called the 'nogitsune', were free creatures and can be either benevolent or malicious depending on their personal nature."

I paused for a moment, trying to collect my thoughts. Shigure continued to just watch me patiently, and I felt a moment of annoyance at her passive role in the conversation. If it was anyone else they would no doubt be asking various questions throughout the explanation, and I would have to respond in kind in order to answer. It would help give this whole monologue a more conversational feel to it. With Shigure though, it was just a matter of her waiting for me to say everything I needed to say, and it kind of made me feel like I was just lecturing her instead of talking with her.

"Now while the zenko spent their lives in service to Inari," I resumed my explanation, "the nogitsune tended to live free lives. However, every once in a while a human would try and, well for lack of a better word, court them to try and convince them to become the human's servant. These people were called 'kitsune-tsukai', fox using witches. Fox witches could use their fox servants to cast illusions or to possess their enemies. Since foxes were also so tricky by nature the witch could also have the kitsune use their abilities to find out secrets. It was said that to the kitsune-tsukai there was no secret, past or present, that they could not learn."

"So we're going to see a kitsune-tsukai… about Kenichi's zebra," Shigure finally spoke up, nodding slowly as she took my explanation to the next logical step given everything she knew already. It was a good deduction, but I shook my head, a small frown on my face as I corrected her.

"If I could find a kitsune-tsukai, I would," I admitted, "but that's next to impossible these days." Shigure glanced at me, a silent encouragement to continue. "Nowadays kitsune-tsukai are like exorcists or priests," I explained. "There are a lot of people who claim to be them, but in the end they're just normal people carrying out old traditions. Most exorcists have never even seen a ghost, most priests have never met a god, and most fox witches have never seen a genuine kitsune." I pursed my lips recalling with annoyance just how hard I had looked for an actual fox witch. "As far as I know the nearest kitsune-tsukai is living in Nagano, and there's no way of me knowing if they're a genuine fox witch or just someone who acts like one. No," I shook my head slowly, "instead of a fox witch, I'm going straight to the fox itself."

Shigure again gave a brief, slow nod as she followed the logic I was using. It would make sense to her to be direct, seeing how direct she tended to be most of the time herself. Still, after a slow blink, there was still one thing that Shigure seemed uncertain about.

"How is this… dangerous?" she asked, no doubt wondering just why it was that I had tried so desperately to keep her away in order to protect her. It made sense in a way. If I was just going to somewhere to ask a few questions, then my errand probably didn't seem that difficult at all.

"It's pretty hard to find kitsune themselves these days," I explained, shrugging uncomfortably. "And it's even harder to find one that cares enough about humans to have a good chance of knowing the answer to my questions. And, well, the one I did manage to find…" I shrugged again, not knowing how else to put it. "Well, she's not very nice."

"Not… nice?" Shigure repeated, blinking as she tried to figure out just why something like 'not nice' would translate over to 'extremely dangerous'.

"Really not nice," I elaborated helpfully. "And the problem is that I'm about to ask her a favor."

When Shigure was silent again, I took that as a cue to continue my explanation.

"If it was just a matter of fighting the kitsune, or driving it away, then I could probably manage to do that on my own," I admitted, one hand coming up to rub the back of my head. "If I caught her completely by surprise, and attacked without warning, probably while she was asleep or sick," I added in a mutter that I was pretty sure Shigure managed to pick up anyway. "But if I did that, then it isn't very likely that she would be willing to answer any of my questions, or if she did that she would be telling the truth. Besides that, afterwards unless I was willing to kill her then there would be a fox out there with a pretty big grudge against me. And foxes can get creative when they're paying back a grudge."

Really creative. Some of the stories I've heard…. I suppressed a shudder. Yeah, attacking was right out of the question. Killing wasn't an option for me either. I was a member of the Katsujin Ken, after all, and attacking and killing someone for information was definitely against the tenants of my philosophy.

Besides. The fox was a girl. I didn't hit girls.

"So you have to be polite to someone who is… rude," Shigure summed up my explanation. It was a pretty simplified explanation of the situation, but I was willing to believe that my Master's understanding was a bit more complex than her brief statement indicated. Still, it looked like there was something else bothering Shigure as she continued a moment later. "So why is it more dangerous… if I come?"

You know, it almost sounded like she was pouting for a moment there. But Shigure, the unflappable prodigy of swords and weapons pouting over something like that?

Nah. Couldn't be.

"Shigure-san," I began, slowly, partly because I was trying to find a way to be polite about this and partly because I was having trouble believing that she would actually need an explanation. "You throw shuriken at hotel employees. When Yasunaga-sensei came for a home visit, you pulled a sword on him. When my dad came as well, you attempted to hunt him down when he tried to rescue me. When the Valkyrie squad came to ask for help, you attacked them with a game controller…"

I trailed off, not because I was running out of examples but more because Shigure had assumed a slumping position, the collar of her coat pulled high as she hung her head down a bit. Realizing that I may have been a bit rough on the deceptively sensitive Master, I hastily held my hands up, trying to think of a way to correct myself.

"I mean," I glanced away for a second to try and find a more diplomatic way of explaining why I considered having Shigure around to be inherently dangerous. "You tend to have a very straightforward way of dealing with situations like these," I finally settled on. "And since this particular meeting involves not letting things escalate into a fight, it just seemed safer... I meant simpler!... to not involve you this time around, Master!"

"…Really?" Shigure turned her head to look at me, giving me an expression which I could identify as 'hopeful' but most of the world would think of as 'empty and soulless'. I think I really was getting the hang of interpreting her various expressions if I was able to successfully comprehend that particular one.

"Really," I nodded enthusiastically, and hoped that Shigure's ability to tell when I was lying wasn't developed enough to see that I was doing so now. Then I paused, narrowing my eyes a bit. "You won't do anything like that this time, will you Shigure-san?" I prompted, hoping that I had managed to make enough of an impression over why attacking the fox would be a bad thing to do. "You won't have your father's sword so it should be easier, but you won't use any of your shuriken, or kunai, or kusarigami, or kodachi, or your sansetsukon…" I trailed off not sure just what some of the other weapons I knew she had stored away in her coat were actually called but knowing that they were there anyway.

Shigure continued to give me a stoic look for a second before she glanced to the side slowly. "Of…course," she assured me in a tone which actually did nothing to reassure me at all.

"No matter what," I told her firmly, hoping that maybe if I just repeated myself enough it would sink in. "No matter what the kitsune says, no matter what happens, please Shigure-san… Master," I corrected myself, hoping that the more formal title would help it stick better. "Please. Whatever happens, don't let it get to you and just let it go. Please, Master?"

"O…kay," Shigure nodded again, still looking away. It wasn't a promising reaction.

For a moment, I gave very serious thought to calling this whole debacle off, going back to the train station, retrieving Shigure's katana, and going back to Ryouzanpaku. It wouldn't be that hard. It would mean a return to the life I had made for myself ever since I joined Ryouzanpaku. That life was a good one. I had friends, my Masters, and a sense of purpose, a direction in life.

But I found that despite thinking about it, I couldn't. The warning of a wolf was in my head, and more than just his ominous hinting there were the penultimate words it had told me, a question which had no doubt been meant in equal parts to help me, as the wolf's reward for services wrought to it, and to hurt me, as a final show of scorn for what it considered to be an abomination.

'The one you thought was dead; just how sure are you of that?'

The truth was, I was pretty damn sure. Considering what had happened, I hadn't really seen any other answer besides the one I had accepted and moved on with: that she was gone; that they were all gone. But the other possibility remained, the doubt the wolf had wanted to put in me festering like an open wound.

What if I was wrong?

I wanted an answer to that question. No, I NEEDED that answer. And I would do just about anything for that answer.

Even go to see the kitsune, despite knowing what I did about her.

I would even bring one of my Masters, unprepared and not knowing just who they were going to see or what they were getting in to. I was even prepared to lie and deceive anyone who might get in the way of my quest for the truth.

'Not nice' was what I had called the kitsune. Honestly, 'not nice' didn't even come close.

Despite that, I continued to lead Shigure into the night. I couldn't help but wonder if this was how Sakaki had felt when he had taken me on my first Underworld field trip. Back then I had no idea just how dangerous the Underworld could be. I had been wounded, and very nearly died on that trip, but in the end I had survived and come to a new understanding of both my Masters and the path in life that I was beginning to walk down.

I could only hope that the same could be said for Shigure at the end of this trip. The other options that awaited both of us were nowhere near that pleasant.

*Scene Break*

There's a certain ambience which appears in red light districts that definitely takes some getting used to. It was unfortunate that I hadn't been around enough of those kinds of places to be properly acclimatized yet, because I was pretty sure I was flushing noticeably at being in one now.

Maybe if it had been a different district I might have been able to bull through without letting it get to me. If it was someplace more modern like Roppungi or Shinjuku then it would probably have been much louder and brighter out. If it was like that I would have been able to let the noise and colors distract me and been able to ignore the seedier aspects of the street around me. I had been to a number of different loud places during my time at Ryouzanpaku after all. The bright night life that would accompany one of Sakaki's bodyguard jobs and the trips to the underground fighting rings or the somewhat dirty atmosphere that went along with visiting Ma's uncle in Chinatown were actually scenes that I was getting used to.

But this, this was something different all together.

It was quiet, almost relaxingly so, in the belly of Asakusa's sin district. In the more modern parts of Tokyo it would have been easy to convince myself that I was simply in the heart of a loud and disreputable party where some people were just making bad choices and the rest were just trying to have a good time. Here though, among the soft spoken crowds of intent men and distant women there was no atmosphere of enjoyment, no air of distraction.

Just about everyone here but Shigure and I were here for one reason and one reason only. Lining the streets were booths that set only a dozen or so feet back into the rest of the buildings with doors that led deeper into the structures. In those pseudo parlors women waited, dressed in all manner of costumes ranging from the casual to the provocative to the just plain depraved. The men who had come to this district walked down the street, quiet for the most part though every once in a while one or two would have drunk a little too much and speak artlessly loud as they continued their merrymaking to the next logical conclusion.

And every once in a while those men talking to those waiting women would come to an agreement, and the women would take the men by the hands and lead them into the back where they would no doubt…

I flushed even redder.

Okay. No need to think any further about just what would happen next.

Despite the unsettling nature of the quiet atmosphere, I was actually a little thankful that this wasn't a raucous sort of place. Earlier I had thought that Shigure and I probably looked like nothing more than a couple out on a date. Here, with Shigure's too short kimono and my slightly formal outfit, we still looked like we were together though now the association had less innocent overtones to it. If this was one of the livelier districts in Tokyo then I might have to worry about other revel makers making assumptions about Shigure's line of work and maybe getting to forward.

Yeah, Shigure would probably be more than enough to put any one who thought her a woman of the night in their place fairly easily, considering just how well armed and just how competent she was in a fight, but then we would probably have to do a lot of running from law enforcement after she was finished with an overly forward wannabe lothario.

Here the worst the two of us received was idle looks of curiosity from the working girls, and a few appreciative glances from those who hadn't yet selected the company they would be keeping for an hour or so.

Despite my discomfort I could sort of understand why it was that the kitsune had chosen a place like this to set up residence for a bit. Asakusa's red light district had a definite feeling of age to it, a quiet sort of atmosphere that lent the streets a mysterious feeling. It felt like this was the kind of place where strange encounters and unusual things might happen, as though the buildings and the pedestrians alike were some sort of cover, a façade which concealed the true nature of the district while unknowable things were happening just out of sight and hearing.

That didn't mean I wanted to stay here any longer than I had to though. If anything it increased my urge to find the kitsune and complete my business with her so that I could get the hell out of here and get back to someplace which didn't unnerve the hell out of me.

Now if I could just find that fox, I would do just that.

"Have you found it… yet?" Shigure asked again, just as she had every five minutes for the last three quarters of an hour. I wasn't quite certain just how the swordswoman was handling the scene we had made our way onto herself, seeing as she was once more in her 'stoic Martial Artist' persona. Though she didn't appear the least bit uncomfortable, that didn't necessarily mean that she wasn't feeling discomfort.

On one hand, she was a Master class fighter, someone who regularly made their way into ambushes and fought armed killers. There was no way of knowing just where some of the hunts for her father's swords had taken her. For all I knew she had visited scenes which put even this one to shame when it came to indecency.

On the other hand, she was also a young lady who was currently walking down a place where most of the other young ladies were being paid to do various unsavory things just out of sight. If it hadn't been for the fact that Shigure herself had forced herself onto this trip against my will then I would be feeling immensely guilty about having her be exposed to this kind of thing in order to accompany me.

As it was, despite my unwillingness to have her along I was still feeling a little guilty anyway.

"Not yet," I told her, having trouble looking directly at my accompanying Master. It just felt way too uncomfortable at this point. Instead, I focused my eyes on the streets around us: specifically, at the various signs and names which generally hung directly above the booths where the women working waited.

"What are you… looking for?" Shigure added when I didn't continue. If I were to hazard a guess it would seem that even she was starting to get a little impatient with having to walk the streets as I searched. Truthfully, we had been up and down the narrow alleys of the Red Light district three or four times by now. Asakusa didn't exactly boast the biggest selection of this sort of… entertainment… as it was, and it didn't take long at a moderate pace to be able to cover most of the streets that were part of this district.

Despite that, I still hadn't managed to locate our final destination.

"I'll know when I see it," I told her, trying not to grimace at the vague answer. At least, I hoped I would.

It wasn't like it was easy to track down and locate a mystic creature in the middle of a city with a population that boasted millions after all. It's not like I could just go to the yellow pages or make a google search. Actually, I had tried that once out of curiosity. 'Where can I find a kitsune?' in the search box had yielded a rather large selection of otaku stores that sold a great deal of merchandise that involved foxes that stared in a number of animes, but no convenient location of consulting magical creatures. It was equally pointless to ask people as well. I could just imagine the reaction of Niijima if I had tried to consult any of the Shinpaku Alliance about that kind of thing.

In the end I had to resort to less conventional means of searching. I'm pretty sure Ma had been surprised when I asked him to teach me the divination technique he had used to locate Niijima after the alien had been kidnapped by Loki of Ragnarok. I had been able to pass it off as curiosity, seeing as I had still been bed bound and recovering from the injuries I received while searching for Miu.

I wasn't the best at that kind of thing, but I had seen various types of charms and spells in use before. I wasn't exactly the best at things like ofuda or mystic arts like some of the people I had come across were, but I knew they were real and I wasn't exactly a normal person myself so that gave me a bit of an edge. Besides that, even if a direct search wasn't very helpful the internet still had uses for that kind of thing. The Shinpaku alliance had a pretty effective information gathering division that was even able to find info on the movements of Yami given enough time. If you knew the right places to look online then you could find a surprising number of things concerning the Nightworld.

In the end I had managed to find what I was looking for, get information on just what I could expect, and even managed to find a general location to search.

It's just that the difference in general and specific was starting to get a little bit annoying, that was all.

"Do you see it… yet?" Shigure asked, and I was just about to sigh at yet another example of how so many Masters tended to behave like kindergartners when I paused, something catching my attention completely unexpectedly.

"Actually…" I began slowly, not able to take my gaze off this particular sign. "Yes. I think I do."

Shigure glanced at me before coming to stand beside me so she could follow my gaze. "Kaisou No… Niwa?" she read out loud a hint of confusion in her voice.

"The Garden of Seaweed," I repeated, narrowing my eyes. Well. As signs go, that was a little obvious actually. How had I missed it before? Looking around, I double checked the street we were on. Yeah, it looked familiar. I could recall seeing the establishments on either side of the Garden of Seaweed at least twice while we were wandering up and down the district. Despite that, I couldn't recall having seen this particular sign at all.

It was wooden, the words engraved with black ink and looking slightly faded. It was lit from the side with a genuine old fashioned chouchin, a lantern made of thin red paper and holding an actual candle inside of it. Beneath it, unlike the other parlors which were open to the night, there was only an equally old looking sliding door in the traditional style open only a few inches. A soft yellow glow illuminated the paper of the door from the inside, giving the establishment a warm looking feel to it. Compared to the glaring neon or faded plastic of its neighbors this particular place looked old fashioned, almost respectable even.

"Is this the… place?" Shigure asked, still studying the strange sign and old fashioned door. Pulling my eyes away from the same sight I glanced around the street. It still looked the exact same as it did earlier, quiet men pacing to and fro as they eyed their surroundings and patient women lounging idly as they waited for their next liaisons. It took me a second before I realized that besides Shigure and I no other soul on the street seemed to notice the innocuous door, not the women who were waiting on either side or directly opposite it, or the men who were passing it by from either direction.

In fact, I realized that just like the door no one seemed to be paying any more attention to Shigure and me either.

"Yeah," I said slowly, fighting off a brief chill. "Yeah, this is the place."

Taking a deep breath I stepped forward, one hand coming up before pausing before it touched the old looking wood of the screen. It's not too late, I reminded myself halfheartedly. You could still turn around and leave.

Instead of following the very good advice, I forced my hand to finish the trip, pushing the door the rest of the way open with a soundless slide and entering immediately afterwards.

It was like stepping back in time, the difference between the street outside and the inside of the Garden was so great. The room itself was rather thin but a bit long, the first half of the foyer floor composed of grey bricks. A few feet into the room the floor raised and changed to a soft brown wood, marking the delineation where guests were expected to remove their shoes before entering the rest of the building proper. Beyond that there was a thin silk screen printed with delicate peonies which partially covered the doorway into the rest of the building. The corridor was dimly lit with low burning candles set at irregular intervals throughout the corridor.

There was only one other person present in the corridor as Shigure stepped in behind me, closing the door behind her as she did so and cutting us off from the rest of the world. They were kneeling a short distance in on the wood on a thin looking pillow, and like the rest of the room it looked as though they were a throwback to the old days. Dressed in a simple yukata with a yellow and green pattern on it, they had long black hair set with hair pins in it, the waiting person bowed as we entered, placing both hands on the floor in front of them and lowering their forehead until it touched the floor.

"Greetings, honorable customer," they intoned using the honorific form of address. I couldn't help but eying the greeter carefully, doing my best to try and get a read on them.

Honestly, I was also trying to determine their gender too.

When I first saw the greeter I originally thought that they were a man, judging from their facial structure. They had a rather sturdy chin, and pretty thick cheekbones as well as a prominent brow. It was hard to see anything else about them, seeing as they were wearing their yukata fully closed in the traditional fashion and with a thick obi securing it tightly. However, when they spoke it was with a surprisingly high pitched voice, a soprano which sounded extremely feminine, and using female speech patterns. I briefly considered that it was still a man who was just changing their tone, but the voice sounded too natural for it to be an affected one. When my eyes tracked down to the greeters throat to search for an Adam's apple in order to confirm its gender I found that they were wearing a thick chocker of lace which fully concealed their neck.

"I welcome you to this lowly establishment," the androgynous greeter continued. "Though this place is humble, I invite you in, Shirahama Kenichi-sama, Kousaka Shigure-sama. Please avail yourselves of the comfort of this establishment."

It would have been a disarming greeting, if it wasn't for the fact that not only had they known my full name, but also Shigure's as well. I could understand if maybe the one within had managed to determine that I had been looking for her ahead of time, but even I hadn't known that Shigure would be coming as well until I was already on my way here.

Well, I thought with another brief shiver, I had been searching for someone who would have knowledge that should be impossible to locate. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised that that knowledge would extend to other areas as well.

It didn't change the fact that it was creepy as hell though.

"Thank you," I told the greeter, still not sure what its gender actually was. Hastily, I remembered to bow back, my mind racing for the proper response to such a formal greeting. "We are honored to be received."

"It is us who are honored," the greeter finally raised their head, resuming a perfectly still sitting position. Again, I took in their features, trying to determine if the set of its eyes and cheeks were masculine or feminine. I just knew this particular mystery was going to annoy me. As though they didn't notice my intense scrutiny the greeter continued, still sitting perfectly still and with a placid and bland smile on their lips. "In what way may we be of service tonight?"

I honestly wasn't certain just what the intention of the question was. On one hand, the one responsible for this establishment had known who and how many were coming, and probably the exact time as well. If that was the case, than they probably knew damn well just why I was here.

On the other hand, well, considering where this place was located maybe there were other services that were offered.

Clearing my throat, and trying not to think about those other services lest my blush increase, I announced my intentions. "We're here tonight to meet with the Lady of the Front."

Behind me, unable to properly stand beside me due to the narrowness of the corridor I felt Shigure shift slightly as she responded to my statement. I wasn't able to tell precisely why she would react like that, and I hoped it wasn't because she had recognized who I was asking to see. I was using only her title, after all. The greeter on the other hand merely smiled a little wider, the vacant look in its eyes remaining unchanged.

"Please," they told me, bowing formally again. "The Lady is expecting you. By all means: enter."

I hesitated for a moment, though that was more because I wasn't certain whether or not the greeter was going to stand to lead the way as was typical in these kinds of polite settings. Instead, they simply remained with their head pressed to the floor, not moving. Finally, I cleared my throat and started to make my way down the corridor, pausing only long enough to remove my shoes as I did so.

"The Lady… of the Front?" Shigure repeated softly, and when I glanced back I could make out some curiosity in her voice but no alarm. That was good.

"Just remember," I reminded her, also keeping my voice soft. "Be polite. No matter what happens, be excruciatingly polite."

I think most people might become a little nervous at my insistence on the place of manners here, but Shigure just nodded again slowly, following behind me closely. Despite her calm exterior I noticed that she had both of her hands resting on the inside of her coat, probably within grasping distance of any of a number of her weapons despite my earlier insistence that she not attack for any reason.

Well, it was Shigure. Maybe she just liked having her hands on her blades.

It wasn't a very long trip to find ourselves in the presence of the Lady. In truth there only appeared to be two other rooms in the entire building, the one waiting directly behind the peony screen and a set of doors on the opposite side of the room which I noted only distantly. The room itself was exquisite.

It was in the old style, just like the rest of the building had been so far and was far wider and more spacious than the hallway had been. In the very center of the room was a brazier set deep into the floor, the heat of the glowing coals inside seeping into the rest of the room. There were silk veils of various shades of green hanging down from the ceiling, which made the ceiling seem lower than it really was. It took me a second to notice that they were apparently hung in particular fashion, tracing strange geometric shapes across the ceiling in a dizzying cacophony of colored cloth.

Set all along the walls of the room were yet more screen arranged to follow the outline of the room. There was another motif in these screens: they all seemed to depict various underwater scenes set with schools of brightly colored fish. However, despite the locations they were meant to depict the plants in each of them appeared to be various flower bushes. I realized that if I squinted at them they seemed to change, and that instead of fishes the bright colored spots were instead flowers and the blues which had first made me think of water could also be interpreted as the sky.

'The Garden of Seaweed' indeed.

Keeping with the motif, two pillows were set directly in front of the brazier, both in cool shades of green and blue, which were no doubt meant for Shigure and I to seat ourselves on. Already placed between and a bit in front of the cushions was a tea set and delicate looking cakes, the cups made of delicate porcelain and already full of prepared tea. There was a haze to the air, partially I think from the smoke rising from the brazier but the smell of it was off. It had a slightly aromatic scent to it, and I realized that either the coals had been set with incense or that there were censors burning somewhere in the room, maybe hidden behind the screens.

There was only one other occupant to the room. On the other side of the brazier from where we were apparently supposed to sit a fox lounged.

There was nothing to reveal that the woman was a kitsune. Despite that, I just knew, the same way as I had when I had just known that the Shikome was watching Chikage and that the wolf was going to be trouble.

The fox was…

Well, the fox was hard to describe.

The first impression I had was of the long black hair, shining with distinct luster in the dimly lit room. Her hair was long, falling in a wave down over her shoulder and across her back. She was half laying half leaning on the only other piece of furniture in the room, a low slung nagaisu, a chaise that was used in the old days when a woman in full kimono needed to recline but couldn't quite manage it while wearing restrictive kimonos or similar dress. One side was raised enough for a user to lean on while the other had no such end cap so that the legs could be stretched fully. Despite the fact that the Nagaisu was meant as a method of relaxation for those wearing restrictive clothing, the fox didn't seem to need it for quite that reason.

Her clothing didn't look restrictive at all, as a matter of fact.

She was wearing a yukata as well, a dark blue shade with a pattern of red flames that started at the bottom and lightened to yellow as it branched in irregular swathes upwards. However, instead of the proper method of wearing it the yukata was far too loose. It hung low on her shoulders, opening wide down the front and was similarly disarrayed on the bottom so that it opened high enough for one of her legs to peak out at the knee, a flash of white skin among dark fabric. .

The only other thing that stood out was the thin fur stole she was wearing settled just as loosely around her shoulders as her kimono was. The fur of the stole was a dark auburn, a shade between brown and red, and very thick.

It was so obviously suspicious that I didn't even bother to speculate on just what kind of animal the fur came from.

She was reclined on her side, one arm peeking out from beneath billowing sleeves as it rested on the cushion, the other up and holding a delicate fan with a hydrangea pattern on it open in front of her head, concealing all but the smallest portion of her face. I could make out a flash of her profile, high cheek bones and thin eyebrows, and then the fan moved and even that portion of her face was concealed

I wouldn't be surprised if the rest of her face was thin, and her eyes were set close as well. That set of features was called 'kitsune-gao', or fox faced. It was considered a rather attractive build among Japan actually, seeing as our women tended more towards 'heart shaped' faces rather than angular ones. It was also, according to legend, one of the indicators that a woman might actually be a fox in disguise.

The fox giggled, four low throaty noises rising gently. "Well?" she began, her voice languid and throaty. "Won't you please sit down?"

I realized that I had been staring, and that I had lost track of time while doing so. Behind me, I heard Shigure draw a soft breath herself and realized she too had frozen when she had entered the room.

Slowly, I forced myself to move, feeling awkward as I moved to take a seat on one of the offered cushions. It took an act of will but I finally managed to drag my eyes away from the waiting kitsune. I caught sight of Shigure as well as she seated too, and realized that she was also having the same trouble I was.

I just couldn't stop looking at the fox. She was just too beautiful.

And the funny part was, I couldn't tell WHY I thought she was beautiful.

Yes, the fox's human form was attractive, but not in a way which would inspire abject staring like both Shigure and I had been doing moments ago. Her proportions were apparent even beneath her kimono, but her body wasn't in any way spectacularly developed: her hips were thin rather than lush or prominent, her waist was small but not hour glass, and while her bust was apparent due to the dipping nature of her yukata it wasn't anything particular to take note of. Shigure's was actually far, far bigger than the fox's, and my Master tended to show almost as much of her chest as the fox was at the moment. Similarly, the fox's skin was pale, very white in the dim light, but not so pale as to be outstanding there either.

However, when all of this was taken together, there was something mesmerizing about the lounging Lady before us. Perhaps it was more than just her physical features. The absolute ease that she held herself in, the poise that was present even while she was simply reclining, the personality that was apparent in every minute motion she made, it all added together to give the fox a presence that was so hard to ignore.

Or perhaps, I reminded myself forcefully, it has something to do with the fact that she's a creature renowned for its abilities with illusion and ensnarement, and maybe it was using those on you right now, Kenichi.

As though she was sensing my thoughts, the kitsune giggled again, those same four ascending notes as she continued to hide her face behind her fan.

"Please," the Lady of the Front spoke again, and the fan shifted enough to give a glimpse of red lips and white teeth presenting a small smile as she spoke. "Be at ease, Shirahama-kun, Kousaka-san. Help yourself to the refreshments that have been prepared."

"Thank you," I responded again, bowing from my seated position. It was a stiff movement, one I had a bit of trouble performing properly considering the circumstances.

"Such a formal young man," the fox noted, the fan drifting back down to cover her mouth, and in doing so revealed an elegantly trimmed eyebrow. I found my eyes drifting to the newly revealed portion of her face, and couldn't help but note how dark the thin eyebrow was, how well cared for it seemed to be. The fox giggled again, and I realized that I had begun to stare without realizing it.

"Tell me, Shirahama-kun," the fox began, her tone mischievous and light hearted. "Do you know the different between a fortune teller, a seer, and an oracle?"

I blinked not having expected such an unusual question. I narrowed my eyes, trying to figure out what the fox had intended with the question. "Well," I began, "there are some who would say that all three are the same thing."

"Some?" the fox prompted, her fan slipping back down to conceal her face completely, waving idly as it did so. She sounded like she was disappointed in my answer, and despite myself I found myself wanting to give a better answer.

"I suppose that fundamentally, all three are the same in that they produce similar results," I elaborated. "All three are diviners, professions gone to by people who want answers about something. The difference between the three is how they go about doing so."

The fox's fan paused, and it moved again to reveal a small portion of the fox's face. "Oh?" she hummed, sounding more interested in this answer. "And how would you say that what all three do are different?"

"All three are gone to when someone needs a question answered," I elaborated, pursing my lips as I considered my answer. "But the way that they do so is different. For the fortune teller, they can answer questions about the present or future by reading the signs of a person, or by analyzing certain aspects of someone's life in order to find answers. They use things like the stars or palms in order to divine answers."

"Indeed," the fox definitely seemed pleased by the response. She shifted, rolling a bit until she was more on her back then her side. As she did so, she raised the leg that was partially exposed by the hem of her kimono, placing her foot on the ground so that her knee was raised. The movement caused the tail of her yukata to fall open, the dark fabric trailing down her pale skin. It was a move that seemed designed to call attention to the shape of her leg as dark blue silk whispered as it fell open.

"In the case of a seer," I continued, my eyes lingering on the newly exposed shape of her calf, "they answer questions through the use of visions. The two most common types of visions are either of events that either already have or someday will happen, or visions that use metaphors to answer questions."

"Very good, Shirahama-kun," the fox praised me, sounding delighted by my elaboration. As though to reward me, her fan shifted again to reveal even more of her face, the line of her cheekbone peeking out from behind the silk. The movement seemed to shift her arm enough, and the sleeve of her yukata shifted like the hem had, another wave of silk revealing inch after tantalizing inch of white forearm before it pooled on the inside of her elbow. "And an oracle?"

"An oracle is different from the other two in that they receive answers directly, usually given directly to them from some other source," I started to pick up speed in my explanation, partly because I was starting to warm up to the topic, and partly because of thoughts of how the fox might move in response to my next answer. "A fortune teller reads signs from the world around them, while a seer uses their own power to divine answers. The oracle though, they are given the answers to a question directly."

"Marvelous," the fox tittered, giggling her four pitch giggle again, The fan shifted, and I the shape of her cheek became the line of her jaw, a hint of her lips just barely peeking out in a smile. "I've heard many things about you, Shirahama-kun, and it seems that they don't disappoint!" The foxes back arched slightly, and the front of her yukata shifted, a patch of the delicate arches of her collarbone that hadn't been visible before becoming bare as she did so.

My throat felt a little dry, partly from speaking and partly from the ache that each new movement inspired in me. With fumbling hands I managed to find my tea, bringing it to my lips and sipping it quickly. The movement pulled my head slightly to the side, and I saw Shigure doing the same. The stoic swordswoman didn't seem to mind the fox's provocative movements. If anything, it looked like she was just as captivated by them as I was.

Captivated….

I felt like I should be paying more attention to that word, but the fox spoke and instantly all my attention was on her.

"Now, Shirahama-kun," she spoke, her voice a purr, and the movement of her chest caused her yukata to shift, more of her pale skin exposed with each breath. "You came to me seeking answers, did you not? Answers that you wanted so badly you would even come to one such as I?" Her fan shifted, more of her smiling lips being bared, and she giggled again. "So what sort of diviner do you suppose I am? A fortune teller? A seer? Or an oracle?"

"I know you're not an oracle," I admitted immediately, shaking my head. "Only a zenko kitsune would qualify as an oracle. It's possible that you are a seer though: you have the power for it." The fox preened at my estimation of her skin, and she rewarded me yet again by shifting her fan even more. I could just make out the very edge of her eyes now, just the slightest tip. I found myself wanting to see more, to be able to tell what color those eyes were. They must be beautiful…. "But you're not quite a fortune teller either. I know you don't need things like the stars in order to find information out: you can learn things with far less."

"Mmmm," the fox hummed and the hem of her yukata fell lower, revealing her creamy thigh. My throat felt dry, and I reached for one of the cakes that had been supplied, using it as a way to distract myself from the vision of beauty in front of me. "You honor me, with such praise," she murmured. I could see more of her eyes now, the pale white of her sclera. "I am so pleased to have such a knowledgeable guest in my house," she admitted, and her voice sound both coy and coquettish as she giggled again.

"It shames me to have such humble offerings for such esteemed company. However, I must do my best as a host," she added, her voice a diffident musing. "Why, if I was a less fortunate host, I would have nothing to offer my guests but sewage water and the maggoty corpses of rats!"

But that was ridiculous, of course. Why, the cake in my mouth was positively delicious, and the tea had been just as marvelous. It wasn't like my senses would lie to me about….

I froze, mid chew. Beside me, Shigure continued to snack away just like I had only moments ago, but across from me the fox's fan paused in its ceaseless shifting.

Oh. Oh that bitch.

It was said that the illusions of fox's were so life like that to the senses they were indistinguishable from reality. Sight, hearing, smell, touch, taste: those under the illusions of a fox experienced only what the fox wished them to.

'Sewage water and maggoty corpses of rats' the fox had said….

Slowly, deliberately not thinking about what I was doing, I chewed the bite in my mouth and then forced myself to swallow. With forced calm, I put the rest of the cake down on the plate I had taken it from. Shigure didn't seem to notice, but the fox most certainly did. Sitting very still, I waited until my still unaware Master reached to take her tea cup again and then firmly caught her wrist. Shigure, who had been staring at the fox with an unusually intense gaze despite her stoic face almost jumped at the contact, her free hand making it halfway to the hem of her coat before it froze as she realized what she was doing.

"We are exceedingly lucky that you are indeed a most generous host," I told the fox, doing my absolute best to keep my voice polite.

And not throw up.

For a moment the fox remained still, and then her fan began its restless twitching again, a movement which so naturally covered her face that if I hadn't been watching for it I would have thought it nothing but coincidence.

And again the fox giggled.

When had the fox bewitched us? It was actually impossible to tell at this point. Had it been when she had begun speaking? Or when it had started shifting? Maybe it had been before, when we had first entered the parlor? Or before, when I had first caught sight of something that no one else seemed able to see?

It didn't matter at this point. I had known that this would happen the moment I had made up my mind to come visit this creature. I had prepared myself to receive its attention.

It was still less disgusting then when the Shikome had kissed me. There had been maggots involved in that too, after all.

The fox giggled, and she brought her other hand up to help grasp her fan. The movement did noticeable things to the open front of her yukata, and despite the fact that I had managed to recover a bit of self-control I couldn't stop myself from looking. Still holding Shigure's wrist I felt her stiffen as she too reacted to the sight, and I found the fact that even a Master like her couldn't quite shake off the spell the kitsune had us in to be equal parts reassuring in regards to my own capabilities and disturbing at the realization that I wouldn't be able to rely on the super-powered Martial Artist to save us if things took a turn for the worse.

"But I have been rude," the fox exclaimed, and though her face was still covered I got the distinct impression that it wasn't me she was looking at now. "It is shameful to neglect one guest for another. Are you enjoying your time in my house, Kousaka-san?"

"…No," Shigure said, and I had the impression that if it hadn't been for her deliberate pause the answer would have been immediate. I winced, and the waving of the fox's fan increased. For a moment I couldn't tell if the fox was upset or pleased by the swordswoman's usual bluntness.

Then the fox giggled again, and I realized that despite the normally cheerful sound I still couldn't get a read on the fox's mood. I was beginning to suspect that giggle to mean something more sinister for the fox than that kind of noise meant for others.

"Oh, how terrible of me, as a host," the fox murmured, and from the corner of her fan white skin peaked again. "It seems that I shall have to endeavor to more properly fulfill my role." The fox cocked her head to the side. "Perhaps I shall be able to redeem myself after I have answered your questions, Kousaka-san."

The offer startled me almost as much as it seemed to startle Shigure. The thought that the fox might treat my Master as a supplicant the same as me had never even crossed my mind.

"What kind of… answers?" Shigure finally asked, and I gave her a quick look to try and get a read on her mood. The swordswoman looked even more unreadable than she usually did and I realized that I couldn't make heads or tails of what she was thinking. "I don't have any… questions."

"Oh?" the fox hummed, and her fan moved again as she rolled back over onto her side, leaning closer as though to get a better look at Shigure. "I could have sworn you did," the fox continued, giggling again. "Perhaps a question of how to grow closer to your …Disciple?" The fan moved enough for me to see the corner of her eyes again, just enough of them so I could see where they were pointed.

Shigure followed the fox's gaze down to where my hand was still holding her wrist. I had actually forgotten that it was still there, and it seemed that Shigure had as well as she quickly pulled her arm free.

"Leave that… out of it," Shigure's voice was unusually low and slow, even for her. It looked like despite the progress the two of us had made as Master and Disciple, our relationship was still a sore spot for my youngest Master.

Which was why the fox had naturally chosen to bring it up.

It hadn't been coincidence that the fox had only bothered to ensnare the two of us long enough for us to eat what had been offered, and that the moment we had the fox had let slip what she had about the refreshments. And when I had broken free enough from her ensnarement to react to that information it wasn't weakness in her power that had let me do so, or kept her from doing it again.

After all, she had already gotten what she wanted from the offered food. She had already seen the reaction I had when I realized what we were most likely eating. Just like now, as the fox turned away from Shigure to refocus her attention on me, the fox had obviously been satisfied with her prying into Shigure and mine relationship. The only reason the fox had done either of those things was because she had wanted to hurt us, after all.

The Lady of the Front enjoyed hurting things.

"Shirahama-kun most certainly has questions," the fox continued as though she hadn't heard Shigure at all. "It was why he decided to search for me, after all." She giggled again, the fan giving a glimpse of those full lips once again so that we could make out her smile. "I was so excited when I learned of his interest," she continued. "After all, it is so rare for anyone to seek me out so deliberately, and even rarer when they seek me for answers, rather than other things."

"Legends of your wisdom remain, even in this day and age," I admitted, hoping that a little shameless flattery might be appropriate. The fox giggled again, and then dashed my hopes that I kindness might be enough to make her relent.

"There are many other wise ones still remaining, Shirahama-kun," she reminded me, a flash of her lips as she moved her fan accompanied by a flash of her thighs as she resettled her leg. "But then again, how many of those would have anything to do with a thing like you?"

'Thing like you.' She spoke the words so casually, as though she was just commenting on the weather, or the furniture. As though I wouldn't understand the underlying meaning behind it as I flinched, my eyes falling to the floor briefly. My body felt hot as something which wasn't quite shame but not quite regret flooded through me.

"After all, what would a fortune teller do if they were to see the signs marking you for an abomination?" she continued, her voice whimsical as she continued to launch barbs at me. "Or how would a seer react if they were to have a vision of your freakish nature? And what oracle could possibly have a god kind enough to answer the questions of a monster?"

The fox giggled again as I reacted to each vicious dig. My eyes closed, and I grimaced as she spoke. A part of me wanted to shout at her, to deny her words. Another part of me wanted to storm out, to leave this vicious bitch behind and go somewhere, anywhere, where I could be assured that I would never come across her again. Another part, a part that was hot and vicious, desperately wanted to abandon myself imposed rule about never striking a woman and to slug the mouth fox straight in the kisser.

I didn't do any of that though. I had known what the fox was like before coming, had known what she would most likely put me through before she would answer my questions. And I wanted those answers, even if it meant having to deal with this thing in front of me.

Besides. It wasn't as though she was wrong either. I wasn't human, not really. Sure, I was infinitely close to being a human, but that closeness didn't make me a human. Nothing would change the fact that I had been eaten by a vampire, and that I had become one for even a brief time. There had been only one way for me to have returned all the way to being just a man again.

I missed that chance a long time ago. Considering what it would have meant, I didn't even regret the decision to let it go.

Because of that, I continued to remain quiet as the fox giggled that wicked laugh of hers, her fan shaking with repressed mirth.

Unfortunately, my attempt at stoicism was interrupted by something I really should have seen coming.

"Shut… up," the voice next to me interrupted the fox's amusement and I glanced up to find Shigure with narrow eyes glaring at the creature across from us. I had actually almost forgotten that my Master was present for a moment. The reminder that she was nearby helped a little, pulling me back from my bleak thoughts.

"Oh?" the fox hummed briefly, her fan covering her face again as she did so. It moved, and a flash of white teeth was briefly visible as the fox let us see its leer. "But that's just what Shirahama-kun is, after all: an abomination. Surely you've heard this by now? From that grizzled old god of that mountain, perhaps?"

It didn't surprise me in the least that the fox already knew about that encounter and what had happened there. If she wasn't so good at knowing these kinds of things I never would have searched for her in the first place. Despite that, it sent a brief chill down my body, interrupting the heat of shame that was still lingering, at hearing the casual way the fox spoke of things that it should be impossible for it to know.

"I don't… care," Shigure responded back, her sentence still choppy but her speaking speed a bit faster than her normal pace. The fox giggled again, and I was really beginning to hate that sound.

"Ah, but Kousaka-san," the fox went on in a sing-song voice. "Would you still not care if you knew? About the secrets that your so-called Disciple is keeping? The ones he doesn't trust you, or anyone else to know? It's hardly fair, is it? After all, you tried so hard to tell him your secrets, even using your old…friend," the fox teased the word 'friend' out slowly, as though she found the word amusing, "to tell your beloved Disciple, but he never did the same…."

"I said… shut up," Shigure repeated, and it was with a small bit of alarm that I realized that the volatile weapons mistress was becoming noticeably angered. It didn't even take my developed 'Shigure translation' skills to hear the growl in her voice this time.

"Shigure-san," I began, trying to interrupt and cool down my Master before she did something that would ruin everything, but I felt vaguely sluggish as the fox interpreted.

"But then again, perhaps it is to be expected," the Lady of the Front continued, her frame shaking with repressed laughter, causing her midnight yukata to slide across her bare skin again. "After all, it's not like there's any real connection between the two of you. You're naught but a Master and a Disciple, and barely that in the end. And how long would such a fragile bond last? In the end, you are just a swordswoman, Kousaka-san," the fox's voice was still teasing and light despite the hateful things she was saying, "and he is the Wicked Blossom, an abomination, a monster. A wretched, spoiled and useless thing…."

"Shut up!" Shigure snapped finally, unable to hold herself back in the face of such spite. I could only watch, knowing there would be no way possible for me to move fast enough to stop her as my Master pulled two shuriken from within the sleeve of her coat and launched them with inhuman speed at the fox.

They missed the fox, no doubt on purpose. Shigure probably only intended for them to be a warning, a means to get the fox to be quiet. They spun past the lounging female's head, coming close enough to her neck that I would have been freaked out if it had been me. The fox didn't even flinch. However, the shuriken continued past the fox, heading towards the wooden frame of the door where they would have embedded harmlessly.

Until the door opened right before they struck, the androgynous greeter from earlier having moved it aside from the classical kneeling position as they prepared to enter the room, and the shuriken instead buried themselves into their neck, cutting through lace chocker and flesh in a spray of crimson blood.

"No," I whispered, frozen in shock as the person fell. I could make out the shine of the steel for a moment before a spray of arterial blood erupted from the vicious gash, a red geyser the likes of which I had only ever seen in movies before. "No!" I repeated, and despite the lingering lethargy from earlier, I realized I was moving, throwing myself across the room and past the still reclining fox so that I could catch the wounded person as they fell with one arm. The other reached up instinctively to the shuriken before I stopped myself, not sure if I should pull out the weapon or if I should leave it in, or if it would even matter at this point. Another spray of arterial blood erupted, in time with the wounded one's heartbeat, splashing across my panicked hand and my cheek.

I had to do something, anything, or this person was going to die right here in my arms. Half remembered medical facts and emergency treatments flashed through my mind, and I finally settled for trying to clumsily pinching the still spraying vein shut, hoping that it would be enough. The blood on my hand felt hot, and it made my fumbling fingers slippery.

"Shigure-san," I snapped looking towards my Master and hoping she would know anything that would help in this situation, but when my eyes found her it was to discover that she was still kneeling on her cushion, hand still outstretched as she remained frozen. There was shock on her face, so obvious that anyone off the street would have been able to read it for what it was. I called again, "Shigure-san!"

My voice seemed too loud as panic gave it force, and it seemed that the second call was enough to pull her from her shock. Shigure's eyes moved from the body in my arms, meeting mine for a moment, and then they widened even more as horror began to set in as she seemed to grasp the enormity of the situation. She flinched, her hand dropping lifelessly to her side as she looked away, quickly, a sick expression on her face.

And between us, where she continued to rest without moving, the fox giggled again.

"Oh my!" the creature tittered. Those four throaty little noises, rising in pitch at a controlled pace: I was really beginning to hate the fox's laugh. "So much concern! Why, there's no need for such an expression, Shirahama-kun" she told me, and I glared at her, unable to maintain my stoic receptiveness to this thing's cruelty while someone was bleeding out with my hands were covered in their blood. "Why, cradling my old furisode to your chest like that. It's almost as if it were a real person!"

Furisode? A type of old kimono with long sleeves? What was she…?

My thoughts froze as when I glanced back at the dying person I realized that there was no one there. Instead of a warm body there was only cool cloth. My fingers were no longer slippery and stained with blood, and the gaping wound I had so desperately been attempting to close was nothing more than a small slit made where a thrown shuriken had slid through easily.

My body was once more slick with cold sweat, though my head felt hot and clouded as I tried to figure out what had happened. I had seen the shuriken strike, felt the warm spray of blood strike my face and on my hands, smelt the coppery odor of the life fluid as it stained the air. Yet it was all gone in a heartbeat, and now there was nothing but the cool feeling of silk and the musty smell of old clothes.

It clicked.

Oh. Bitch wasn't a good enough word for the fox.

I was really beginning to hate fox illusions.

My mind raced as I dumbly turned to look at Shigure, the outline of events being made clear in my muddled head. The fox hadn't just been insulting me in order to take cheap shots at my inhuman status, though it had no doubt enjoyed that aspect of her plot as well. She had been doing it to goad Shigure as well. She had wanted Shigure to react, to do what it was the weapon Master normally did: launch a warning strike. Then the fox had made us think that Shigure had just killed someone.

She had made a Katsujin Ken think they had just ended a life. More than that. She had made sure that it had happened where the Katsujin Ken's Disciple would witness it, all the while after having attacked the Master/Disciple relationship ruthlessly. The horror in Shigure's eyes when she had thought she had taken a life, compounded by the realization that she had apparently betrayed her ideals right in front of the one she was supposed to be leading, to be an example too…

Shigure was still frozen, though now her expression was unreadable even to my highly trained Shigure-interpretation skills. My Master was sitting statue still, arms still down at her side, staring at me as I held a moldy and ripped garment and stared back.

When the fox giggled again, I realized that I had been wrong. The sound didn't make me angry.

It frightened me.

I let the furisode slip from my sweaty grip, falling backwards on my backside as one hand came up to shakily wipe more cold sweat from my forehead. My legs felt weak, and I could feel them shaking slightly as I panted, trying to come down from the surge that the adrenaline had put through me.

"You should calm down, Shirahama-kun," the fox advised me as I buried my head into my palms, trying to slow my racing heart. "It was just some ratty old clothes. It's not as though I would do something so crass as change a corpse into a kimono, after all. What a poor host I would be if I were to deceive my guests in such a manner."

She said it so diffidently that the implication took a moment to sink in. Which was it? What was the truth here? Had the fox merely made us think that the kimono was a body in order to play her evil tricks, or was it the reverse? Was the fox making us think that the corpse was just clothes in order to reveal it again later, to let us have a moment of hope before she dashed it ruthlessly into pieces? Were the hands cradling my head as clean as they felt, or were they even now smearing even more blood across my face?

I had known what the Lady of the Front was like, but I had thought I could endure her games. I had been wrong. This was so much worse than anything I had imagined possible.

And then I glanced up, my body still feeling weak, and found the fox on all fours, fan missing, staring me dead in the eyes from only inches away.

I tried to back up, to flail away, but I realized that the weakness in my legs wasn't recovering, that it was only getting worse. I couldn't support my weight, and fell painfully onto my back, my arms like jelly as my head struck the floor. The strange lethargy and weakness combined with the sudden pain in my head, and I found that no matter how hard I tried I couldn't make my body move anymore.

I barely even noticed the realization that my body would no longer obey my command as I finally got my first unimpeded view of the fox's face.

It was definitely kitsune-gao, thin cheeked and close set eyes. Just as before, there was nothing special about her individual features. Her face was attractive, but not in any particularly outstanding way.

Despite that, I couldn't take my eyes off of her. Her eyes…. They were just normal eyes, no slits or anything else to reveal her animal heritage. They didn't gleam in the dark, nor were they any exotic shade. They were just dark eyes, the likes of which could be found on any other Japanese person throughout the country.

I still couldn't look away though.

The fox giggled again, and began crawling towards me, slowly moving over my body. Her lose yukata hung open, and if I could look anywhere other than the fox's eyes I would have been treated to a sight which would have had Miu covering my eyes in a heartbeat. All I could make out of it though was pale flesh, dark cloth, and that obvious auburn stole.

"Hmmm," the fox hummed, her voice throaty as she continued to climb over me. "Oh, this has been such a marvelous night," she sighed happily. "It has been ages since I've had guests as accommodating as you two."

When she was fully over me she sighed again, before letting her upper body slump collapse forward in a graceful heap on top of me. She dropped an elbow onto my chest, using her hand to support her chin as she smiled down at me. Her free hand came up to my face, her fingers resting lightly against my cheek as she spoke. I could feel her nails pressing lightly against my skin, dimpling my flesh slightly as she began to trail her hand down. My body felt even hotter than it had as I lied there helpless, feeling a cloud settle over my thoughts. Her hand continued down, tracing my neck slightly.

"However," the fox continued as her wondering fingers finally reached the edge of my shirt. "It simply wouldn't be proper for me as a host if I were to ignore the reason for my guests to visit." Her nails paused for a moment before they continued to travel downward. The nails which had traced me so gently did not hold the same regard for my clothing, and I gasped as they parted my shirt effortlessly. Slowly, the fox continued to cut through my shirt, revealing the lean muscles beneath.

"Hmmm," the fox hummed again, and then she giggled once more. "Oh, if only you hadn't come to me for answers," she noted, her voice sending a new heat into my body. "The things I could have done to you…" she trailed off, and I had a brief irrational moment of pride at the apparently positive reaction my body had drawn from the creature before I remembered some of the stories I had heard. When I shuddered, the fox just giggled again. "It would have been marvelous," she added, before glancing away from me to the side, a sly smile on her face. "Just as that one would have been."

'That one'. When the fox looked away, I found myself free of the spell of her eyes. My body still wouldn't respond, not properly, but I was able to look to the side. There.

My Master was still on the other side of the room, though she was no longer sitting. Instead she had sprawled forward, one hand out and extended towards me. It looked as though whatever paralysis I was under had befallen her as well. Despite that, I watched as the collapsed Shigure somehow managed to force her body into action. The fingers of her extended hand were grasping, plucking at the floor as though Shigure intended to pull herself forward using just those digits.

"Get away… from Kenichi," my Master managed to get out, her voice as weak as my body felt, and the fox giggled again. As though in response to her ineffective order, the fox finished cutting open my shirt and in one languid motion brought her hand up, resting her fingers against my chest. I felt goose bumps rise from her touch.

Then, without any warning, the fox adjusted her middle finger until the nail was poised over the flesh of my chest, and then pushed. The nail sliced into me as easily as it had my shirt, digging into the dense muscles of my pectorals. I gasped as the fox cut me, feeling warm trickles as blood began to flow once more.

Across the room Shigure's fingers stretched again, and her body shook as my Master continued to try and force herself to move as she watched a monster carve into her Disciple.

Slowly, the fox continued to press her nail deeper and deeper into my flesh. I grit my teeth, trying to endure. The pain was unexpected, and all the more unavoidable because of it. My breath was ragged as I tried to deal with the sudden feeling of being slowly cut open, and knowing that there was nothing I could do to stop it. It should have been a horrifying experience, something unavoidable and unstoppable, and it should have been the pain which was inspiring the fear I was feeling inside.

Instead, the terror was coming from the fox's expression as she continued to hurt me for no other reason than to hurt Shigure. If there had been some sign of sadism on the fox's expression than I would have felt some form of relief. For humans who enjoy causing pain there is always some source of their enjoyment. Whether it be the satisfaction of having violated a rule, over having broken one of the taboos of human society, the feeling of power of having someone helpless in their grasp, there was always some realization that causing harm to others was in some way wrong even if it was being enjoyed. Even if the wrongness was what they enjoyed, a human hurting almost always had an expression revealing that they understood at some fundamental level that what they were doing was wrong.

The fox had no such tell. The expression on its face was bemusement at best, an innocence found only on the very young or the completely insane. For the fox, this whole scene was nothing more than one to be idly enjoyed, just some way to pass the time for a little while.

Lying here, in the arms of a beautiful woman-shaped creature, I found myself wishing I could trade back for the Shikome. However ugly it had been, at least its feelings had been benevolent.

"Now," the fox told me as she finished pressing her nail all the way into the muscles of my chest. I could feel the tip of her finger resting flush against my skin. "You came to me for a reason, Shirahama-kun. What is it you want?"

Well. Here it was. What I had been waiting for, what I had risked everything to get. I forced my tongue to work, and though my words felt thick in my mouth they were still understandable.

"What is the situation of Oshino Shinobu, once known as Kiss Shot Acerola Hearts Under Blade, and how can it be improved?"

I had to know. More than anything else, I had to know. From the mouth of this creature, who would know, and who would delight in giving me the answer. Just tell me the truth, so I can move on. Please…

The fox giggled, and the stole on her yukata twitched. With hazy eyes I watched as it pulled itself free from the cloth, twisting as it moved, somehow expanding as it began to unwind itself with no visible cause. One, then another, and then more, the stole separated into the individual tails of the fox. Yeah, I had called that one the moment I saw it.

As soon as they were free, all nine of her tails twisting and weaving in the air above me, the fox leaned forward, putting her lips next to my ear so she could whisper her answer to me.

If I hadn't already been unable to move, the answer to my question would have paralyzed me. If I hadn't already collapsed, then I would have then and there.

When the fox pulled back, she smiled at me, a wicked little grin, and then she leaned forward so she could force her lips onto mine. Unable to help myself I opened my own mouth, maybe in response to her kiss, maybe in shock, my head was too fuzzy for me to be sure anymore. I felt something warm and wet flow into my mouth and I couldn't stop myself from swallowing reflectively. The bitter taste of copper and iron lingered on my tongue.

Then, with one smooth motion the fox unsheathed her claw from me, bringing the digit up to her mouth so she could lick it seductively.

"There you go, Shirahama-kun," she told me, tittering again. "Exactly as you wanted, exactly as you've earned." Unable to move, I felt my consciousness growing dimmer as my body burned, hotter now than even before. I felt as though I was about to catch fire and immolate, as though my limbs had been replaced with lead, stone, and magma. I couldn't even move as the fox turned away, a smile on her face as she focused on the other occupant of the room.

"And now it is your turn, Kousaka-san," I heard the fox announce, and though I tried to stay awake, to move, to do anything, the last thing I saw before I passed out was the nine tailed fox as she began to crawl her way towards my helpless Master.

I knew I should have insisted she stay out of this.

*Scene Break*

It was a high pitched scream which pulled me out of unconsciousness. Well, somewhat out of unconsciousness. My head felt like it was stuffed full of wool, and my thoughts were fuzzy. It was bad enough that I couldn't quite remember what it was I had been dreaming but that whatever I had been seeing in my sleep had been horrible. Unremembered night terrors when combined with that screeching noise was enough for me to both begin and continue my journey back into consciousness.

Despite the strange ache in my head and the restless slumber, it was still harder than it should have been. For all the unpleasantness going on in my head, my body felt rather comfortable. My bed was unusually warm today, and my pillows especially soft, though it felt like I might have been resting on my arms too long: they had the typical numbness that only came after I had been sleeping on them for too long.

Still, I wished that I had remembered to pull my blankets up more. My back felt a little too cool, as though I had kicked my sheets off at some time during the night. Or maybe knotted them together somehow. There were noticeable bands of warmth across my shoulders and settled around my hips. I tried to shift to cover the rest of my body, but discovered that no matter how hard I tried I couldn't force my body to move.

How odd, I thought to myself fuzzily. Well, at least I'm comfortable…

"Holy shit!" another voice joined piped up as the high pitched voice began to trail off. Despite my sleep addled state it was one I recognized.

"Sakaki-sensei?" I muttered, before grimacing as the taste in my mouth hit me. God, what had I been eating last night?

"W-wow, midget," I was somewhat blearily realized that Sakaki of all people had somehow managed to develop a stutter at some point. "I didn't know you had it in you!" The tone of his voice was somewhat stunned, and had a note of awe in it. What the hell was he talking about?

"Forget that!" the high pitched voice came again, and I realized that when it was forming words I could identify it better. That was definitely Miu. "Shigure-san! What do you think you're doing?"

Shigure? Was she here too? What was going on again?

"This isn't what it… looks like," Shigure's voice sounded like it was genuinely nervous, which ordinarily would have been enough to make me sit up and take notice. Well, sit up and take notice if I could move my body at all, which I still didn't seem able to manage. But what really caught my attention about Shigure's voice was where it was coming from:

Right next to my ear.

I finally managed to pry my eyelids open, and when I did I sincerely wished that I hadn't been able to. Well… I guess that explained why my pillows were so soft:

Because my head was currently lying on Shigure's naked chest.

With that particular observation enough to force even my addled brain to work I began to get a better feel for the situation. Which, afterwards, I sincerely wished that I hadn't managed to do. Get a feel that is…

It appeared that the shock of my present position was enough to only further reduce my beleaguered brain's already meager capabilities.

It wasn't every day that you woke up to realize that you were bear assed naked, lying on top of your Master who just happened to be a young and very attractive woman who was also bear assed naked, with your arms wrapped around her while both her arms and her legs were wrapped around you.

Somehow, the two of us had ended up back in my room in the annex near the dojo of Ryouzanpaku in a position which could generously be called 'compromising' but more accurately should be labeled 'lewd and raunchy as hell'. And standing at the door to my room was none other than Sakaki, one of my other Masters, and Miu, the girl I was in love with.

What the hell had happened last night? Desperately I tried to remember how this had ended up happening while simultaneously struggling to pull free and come up with an excuse which would somehow magically manage to explain away this whole thing in a way which would make Miu understand that this definitely was not what it looked like…

And then I remembered just what had happened, and I groaned. Yeah. I suppose this would be just the perfect end to an already horrible experience.

If that fox didn't scare the hell out of me, I might just have hated her even more.

"Shigure-san and Kenichi-san," Miu was muttering to herself, one of her eye lids twitching as she did so. She was still dressed in her pajamas, the cat print ones that she like so much, and she had both of her hands raised in front of her. "Shigure-san and Kenichi-san," she repeated, as her hands seemed to alternate between making a triangle shape in the air in front of her and simulating a strangling motion that made me very, very nervous.

"W-well," Sakaki on the other hand looked like he was equal parts embarrassed as he was impressed. "Congratulations, Kenichi, Shigure," he continued, his cheeks red as he rubbed one hand behind his head, looking unusually awkward for someone who was normally so straightforward. "But are you two sure about this?" Hastily he held his hands up in front of him as though he was trying to ward off something. "I mean, if the two of you are together, that's fine," he quickly added. "But was now really the time to be making those kinds of decisions?"

"Together…" Miu repeated, her eyes starting to glaze. "Kenichi-san and Shigure-san… Together…." She trailed off as her arms slowly fell to her side. "Sakaki-san," she continued, her voice toneless. "I'm going to kill them both now."

"Whoa!" Sakaki snapped out, and just barely managed to grab a hold of Miu as the young girl started to stalk forward, the disturbing light that only showed up when the girl was about to give into her killer impulses shining in her eyes. "See what I mean about timing?" the karate user snapped as he struggled to hold back the much smaller girl. I'm sure he would have no trouble stopping her normally, but it looked like he was trying to be extra careful not to hurt Miu this time around.

Ugh. Yeah, I totally saw what he meant.

"Sakaki-sensei," I began, and grimaced as my voice slurred due to my body still not properly responding to my orders to it. "Help," I finally managed to get out.

"Kid, if you need help at this point than you should probably be going to Ma," Sakaki told me, still struggling to hold back the enraged Miu. I was beginning to hear other noises from around the dojo as the rest of Ryouzanpaku's Masters began to take note of the developing scene.

I decided to ignore the blunt karate user's misunderstanding to focus on more important things: getting clothes on Shigure and I before everyone else saw us like this.

"Can't move," I managed to get out next, and Sakaki's eyebrow rose in response.

"Damn," he whistled, sounding impressed. "I guess Shigure really must have gone hard on you last night then." While that particular interpretation just seemed to raise my Master's admiration, it also caused Miu to start trying a little harder to close the distance between herself and our still paralyzed bodies.

"We were… drugged," Shigure managed to add, and I glanced reflexively up at the face which was only a few inches above mine. Despite the fact that for the most part Shigure's expression seemed to have returned to her stoic norm, her cheeks looked a little red and she was making a point to keep her eyes looking anywhere but down at me.

"Drugged?" Sakaki repeated, and his eyes narrowed as he began to get the picture. "Are you two alright?" he finally asked, and Miu started to slow down in her attempts to kill the two of us.

"No," both Shigure and I told him at the exact same time. Shigure paused afterwards and then purposefully turned her head so it was looking away from me. I realized absently that it was morning, a time that usually accompanied a very embarrassing condition for a guy, a condition which was compounded by being on top of a very attractive woman, and that in my present state it wouldn't be hard for Shigure to notice the same problem that I was only now realizing I was having…

I felt a blush of my own forming.

"Just get Akisame-sensei," I sighed, and tried to think about calming things. Like baseball, or arctic glaciers.

It was just gonna be another one of those days. I could tell already.

*Scene Break*

"Well," Ma began, the smaller Chinese man's hands feeling strong and rough as they continued to massage the sore muscles of my left arm. "It looks like whatever it is is finally starting to wear off."

"Joy," I muttered, not having the energy to raise a more enthusiastic response. Gingerly I shifted, and for the first time in hours I felt as though my body was actually listening to me as I managed to raise the arm not being treated by Ma.

"This is most fascinating," Akisame noted, sounding clinically interested as he studied his patient from behind the curtain. I heard Shigure grunt once, though whether it was at the jujitsu user's words or in response to some unseen action I had no idea.

"So it's starting to wear off then?" Sakaki asked, sipping his beer as he did so. The karate user was giving me the same kind of look that he had given Miu yesterday, the look that said he was damn well upset about something, and it was only the beer in his hand which was keeping him from going out and doing something drastic.

"Well, it appears that way," Ma nodded before picking up another bottle of the tonic he had been applying to me. "I would have to double check the results on Shigure-donno though…"

That was as far as he got before a shuriken dropped and rolled its way across the floor to finally rest at his feet, apparently having been thrown without the force to make it far enough to actually fly. Ma looked down at the lackluster attack, and then back up at where it had originated from.

"Never mind," he sighed, sounding a strange mixture of disappointed and worried. "Maybe later." With another sigh, the lecher put the bottle of salve down and then without a word of warning grasped one of my legs, his strong fingers once more beginning to work at my muscles.

After the scene this morning had been sorted out and the fact that Shigure and I hadn't been caught in the middle of a secret tryst and did genuinely need assistance the dojo had quickly been conscripted into a makeshift infirmary for the two of us. With two outstanding Master doctors in the house the only original concern anyone had had been keeping Ma away from Shigure while she was incapacitated. Though the Chinaman had originally been rather enthusiastic in his offers to treat the female Master the duty had been split up so that Akisame would help Shigure and Ma would look after me.

What had started as a light hearted treatment had gradually grown more serious when both doctors realized that they had no idea just what had been used on the two of us. Honestly, even I wasn't sure what the fox had done to Shigure and I. I had no idea if the inability to move my body was some sort of drug or chemical, or maybe some application of the fox's magic, or whether the evil creature had just broken our spines and left us paralyzed for her own sick amusement.

Whatever the case, the situation had quickly moved out of the area of constant teasing and humiliation to semi-serious once the realization that we really did have a problem had been made.

However, once that problem was fixed there was no guarantee that it wouldn't return to that state at some point or another.

Miu ducked back under to my side of the screen that had been set up to provide privacy for Shigure as Akisame continued to treat her. Miu had at least calmed down at this point, though the Elder standing in the corner was making sure to keep his eyes on his granddaughter, a fact which I appreciated. Considering that Miu was still dealing with sudden and uncontrollable impulses to murder having the safeguard of the Invincible Superman was a somewhat comforting thing to have around.

"I'm so sorry about this morning," Miu addressed me, the apologetic look in her eyes enough to let me know she was being serious. I smiled at her warmly, and though the one she sent back was somewhat hesitant, I still treasured it. It was one of the first I had seen on her since we had begun our deprograming spars.

"It's fine, Miu," I assured her, and her smile grew less tentative as she gave me a quick look to reassure herself that I was being honest.

"Hmm," it was the Elder who spoke up this time. The enormous old man was kneeling with a cup of tea in the corner of the dojo, an area which let him split his attention evenly between myself, Shigure, and Miu as the Master continued to study each of us carefully. "While its good news to see the both of you recovering, I think it's about time we started talking about how the two of you ended up in this state to begin with."

"Damn straight," Sakaki muttered as well, before casually slamming a fist into the tatami next to him. I jumped a little at first, thinking the sudden motion a sign of the volatile karate user's temper. "And keep your hands off my drinking snacks," Sakaki grumbled, and I realized that he had just been thwarting Apachai's attempts at his beer nuts.

"Apapapa," the gentle giant mumbled, looking entirely too depressed for having simply been denied cashews.

"Secret… Underworld field trip," Shigure supplied, her voice coming from behind the screen. Beside me Ma sighed slightly as he continued to use one of his bizarre ancient Chinese techniques in order to help restore movement to my leg. It was a straightforward enough answer, and in Ryouzanpaku it was probably a decent enough excuse to brush our earlier situation under the carpet.

"Again?" Sakaki muttered, taking another swig on his beer. "Man, you've been hogging all the field trips lately, Shigure," he complained. If he was an any less intimidating figure then the look on his face would probably have been best described as 'pouting'. Instead it managed to come off as a scowl. "Don't you think you should let the rest of us have turns?"

"Hmm," Akisame let loose another contemplative sound before a sudden and horrific sounding series of pops emerged from behind the screen. "No," the mad doctor muttered. "It looks like that didn't help out any more. Strange. Resetting every joint in your leg should have increased your mobility by at least five percent. Maybe I should try again…"

I heard Shigure grunt once calmly afterwards, and shuddered. Akisame tended to get a little creative when he had a new puzzle to work on, and it appeared that he was taking his inability to instantly cure Shigure's paralysis somewhat personally. I was glad it was a fellow Master under his care, because if he tried something like that on me I would probably end up dying again.

"You have been taking Ken-chan out rather often lately," the Elder noted, stroking his beard slowly. "Are you sure that you are giving him enough time to recover between trips, Shigure-san?" It looked like the frequent excursions that the two of us had been taking for Nightworld business had finally started to draw attention from the rest of the dojo in general.

"More sword hunting…. in a week," Shigure just responded, and I remembered the offer she had made on the train about taking me along on more of her Underworld expeditions and shuddered briefly. Ma seemed to catch my physical reaction and gave me a sly smile of commiseration. I was pretty sure that the lecherous Master had decided that Shigure's sex appeal might have something to do with my recent increase in activities with her.

Actually, I was also pretty sure that the only reason he hadn't begged me for details yet about this morning was because Shigure still wasn't able to throw a Shuriken properly yet. It was strangely chivalrous, but it looked like Ma was waiting until the swordswoman was able to once more defend herself before he started engaging in his usual mad hijinks. I think the old man liked the chase almost as much as he did the prey.

"Again?" Miu moaned, sounding particularly aggrieved as she turned to glare at the screen separating us from Shigure. "Shigure-san, don't you think it's time you let Kenichi rest a bit? Hasn't he been through enough already? What if he were to get seriously hurt on one of your crazy trips?"

It was oddly comforting to hear that kind of worry from Miu. In the past she had always had a kind of 'protective big sister' thing going for her when it came to particularly dangerous elements of the Underworld. Lately, with the general awkwardness of our injuries and the dangerous spars we had been undergoing I hadn't had much a chance to spend with my fellow Disciple.

"Shigure-san," Akisame interrupted my thoughts, a note of worry in his voice. "Are you alright?" He paused for a moment, before continuing. "Maybe I shouldn't have bent that joint so far backwards after all…"

I shuddered again.

"I won't let anything happen to… Kenichi," Shigure finally responded to the still fuming Miu, and though the rest of the room seemed to take her words at face value they made me sit up straight. Ma paused, giving me a searching look as I interrupted his treatment. "Not… again."

It looked as though the rest of the Masters were appeased by the swordswoman's words as I glanced around the rest of the room. It actually took me a second to realize that they didn't hear the underlying tone in her voice. It was somewhat shocking to me to realize that it looked like out of all the Masters of Ryouzanpaku, I was the only one capable of interpreting Shigure well enough to hear the undercurrent of pain and regret in her voice.

Another little dagger sank into me, and I chalked up another notch on the list of reasons why I was the most insensitive jerk in the history of insensitive jerks.

"It is kind of cold to interrupt the kid's trip back to his family so that you could drag him off on another Underworld field trip," Sakaki noted, though his voice was carefully diffident as he did so. I had told the karate user that I was just going back to visit my folks before I had snuck out, and so to his eyes it must seem that Shigure had ambushed me and dragged me out into something against my will. I was at least glad that Sakaki was trying to be polite about his chastisement. For all his bluntness, the man did have a surprisingly good grasp of subtlety, or at least cunning, at times.

"…Sorry," Shigure added a few moments later, and I grimaced again.

"It wasn't her fault," I spoke up, dragging the attention of the entire room to me. I couldn't meet the curious eyes of my Masters, and stared resolutely at the futon I was resting in, my hands clenching in the loose medical scrub I had been dressed in while I was being treated. "It was my field trip."

I couldn't just sit here and let Shigure take the heat for this one. If I just stayed quiet, then all the blame would slide to her, and I would get off without even being noticed. All the Masters would just chalk it up to another field trip gone bad, quietly chastise Shigure for endangering their already wounded Disciple, and that would be it. But Shigure didn't deserve that. Not right now.

Last night she had volunteered to walk into the den of a monster with me, had refused to let me do it alone. And because she had tried her hardest to look after her Disciple she had been drugged, insulted, and hurt. The fox had deliberately implied that Shigure would never be a true Master to me, arranged an elaborate incident where it appeared as though Shigure had killed an innocent bystander, and then casually cut me while she had lain helpless watching. The fox had attacked everything Shigure held dear to herself: her bond as a Master to me, her ability to protect me from danger, and even her status as a Katsujin Ken.

And now Shigure was going to accept even more censure from her peers in order to help protect my secret for me. She didn't deserve any more injuries, not after what she had already had to go through last night. I had taken up Martial Arts in order to have the strength to stand against the evils of the world that no one else would respond to. If I let this happen, then I would be nothing more than a hypocrite that could hit hard.

"Kenichi-san?" Miu asked, turning away from where she was still glaring at Shigure's shadow on the screen so she could give me a confused look. Ma's hands paused in the middle of their massage, before they continued as though he hadn't noticed my announcement at all. Still looking down, I did my best to give the confused girl a smile as I forced myself to continue.

"I had heard about a dangerous information dealer who had made their way into town," I continued. "After I visited my folks, I was planning on seeing them. Shigure had Tochumaru keeping an eye on me, and when she found out what I was planning, she refused to let me go alone."

"As well she should," Akisame chimed in to the silence that greeted my word. I couldn't see the jujitsu user's face, but from the tone of his voice it seemed he thought my actions were pretty upsetting. "If the information broker you were going to see was dangerous enough to even get the drop on Shigure-san, than perhaps it would have been better if you had simply reported their existence to the rest of us as well." The disapproval was obvious in his voice. "Just who was it that you went to see anyway?" he continued, now with a note of curiosity. "I'm familiar with a number of different dealers, but I've never heard of anyone who uses a compound like this."

Ah. Trust Akisame to focus on professional curiosity. Still, I suppose I could answer his question. I had already gotten what I wanted, after all, and there was damn near no chance in hell that I would ever seek out the fox again.

"The Tamamo-no- Mae," I answered simply.

"Apapapa," Apachai broke in, sounding confused. "What happened before the seaweed?"

I was actually surprised that the gentle giant had made the connection. Tamamo was spelled with the kanji for 'ball' and 'seaweed' but considering that most reading of seaweed was pronounced 'kaizo' it was kind of unusual for the non-native speaking Japanese Apachai to make that kind of connection. The appellation '-no-mae' typically meant 'before' but 'in front' was also another translation.

"Not before-seaweed," Akisame told the gentle giant, and judging from the tightness in his voice it seemed that the philosophical Master was well aware of just how big a bomb I had dropped with my confession. So far, it seemed like he was the only one if I could judge the confused looks on the rest of the room. The Elder also seemed to recognize the title, and his eyes narrowed as one enormous hand came up to stroke his beard. "The Tamamo-no Mae. The Lady Tamamo of the Front. Yet another dangerous name," he added with a dark tone to his voice. "It seems kids these days really do like using auspicious titles."

"Tamamo of the front of what?" Sakaki asked belligerently, his eyebrows furrowed as he searched his mind for some memory that had to do with the name.

"In the days during and after the Heian period, station was often indicated through the use of a direction," Akisame explained, and I heard a rustle from behind the screen as Shigure reacted to the information. She had heard me use the Tamamo's title, but it seemed like she had no idea what it had indicated either. "For instance, in the Tales of Genji many of the characters were spoken of by their titles: the Minister of the Left, or the Secretary of the Right. The direction was used to indicate their importance or favor to the Emperor's court."

"So what? Some girl decided to use some old court title to make themselves feel important?" Sakaki snorted, and took another sip of his beer. "Doesn't sound that bad."

"It's not the title, it's the name," Akisame corrected, sounding bemused at the younger Master's indifference. "The Tamamo-no-Mae was the nine tailed fox that, according to legend, nearly destroyed all of Japan once."

Sakaki blinked. "Well, in that case, I suppose it is a pretty ominous name," he admitted.

"Destroyed all of Japan?" Miu chimed in, adopting a confused expression that actually resembled Sakaki's pretty closely. She brought one hand up to her mouth as she too furrowed her brow and tried to recall where she had heard the name before. "How did she do that?"

"Am I really the only one here who knows the legend of the Tamamo-no-Mae?" Akisame asked, and he sounded equal parts exasperated as he did amused at the ignorance the rest of the dojo had of such a significant legend.

"I know it," I muttered with a sigh, though it looked like I was summarily ignored by the rest of the dojo, save for Ma who continued to quietly treat my condition.

"As do I," the Elder rumbled out a second later. I glanced at the older man to find him studying me carefully, an unrecognizable look in his eyes.

"Well I don't," Sakaki grumbled, looking somewhat annoyed at being left out of the story.

"Me… neither," Shigure added, and I heard Akisame rustle as the female Master did something I couldn't make out from behind the screen. "Please tell us… Akisame."

"Well, if even Shigure-san is interested," Akisame seemed surprised at Shigure's insistence, or maybe by something that she had done while out of sight. "Well," he began, his voice slow as he most likely gathered his thoughts. "The Tamamo-no-Mae was originally a courtesan that appeared in the court of the Emperor during the Muromachi period and began to gain favor. According to legends, she was considered the most beautiful and intelligent woman in all of Japan. There was nothing that she didn't know, no matter what the topic was, and she was so lovely that even the Emperor fell in love with her. It was why she received the title 'Of the Front'.

"However," Akisame continued, "shortly after the Emperor began courting her, he fell deathly ill. No doctor that was called could find any reason for his illness, and no medicine would work. Finally, the Emperor called for an astrologer by the name of Abe no Yasuchika, who discovered the reason for the illness: that Tamamo was actually a nine tailed fox who had been hired by an evil daimyo in order to kill him. Immediately afterwards, Tamamo-no-Mae disappeared from the court.

"The Emperor sent his two strongest warriors, Kazusa-no-Suke and Miura-no-Suke, to hunt Tamamo down, and eventually Tamamo appeared to Miura-no-Suke in a dream." I heard another set of pops coming from across the screen, though this time it sounded less like Akisame was performing horrible experiments of Shigure and more like the jujitsu Master had simply shrugged and cracked his shoulder. "The fox told the warrior that she had seen her own death at his hands, and tried to beg him to spare her. Miura-no-Suke refused, and the next day he shot the fox down. Tamamo's body turned into a cursed stone called the 'Sessho-seki', the killing stone, and afterwards her spirit became known as Hoji and haunted the stone. The spirit killed anyone approached it until it was finally exorcised by a wandering priest named Genno."

"Oh yeah," Sakaki muttered, rubbing the back of his head idly. "I remember that place. It's out in Nasu isn't it? The killing stone?"

"Indeed," Akisame sounded pleased that someone at last recognized a part of his story. "It's a rather famous legend," he added. "There are quite a number of plays about it, and even a few movies."

"That's one way the legend ends, anyway," I interrupted, and even though I was still staring at the futon I could make out that I had once more caught the attention of the Masters. "There's another legend, one that isn't so well known."

"Really?" Akisame responded, and I could hear a touch of curiosity in his tone. "I hadn't heard of any other ones," he admitted, and it came as a bit of a shock to me that he was being honest. Akisame had always been the Master most steeped in the classic arts. He enjoyed calligraphy and sculpting, and was regarded as one of the premiere masters in the areas of classic art. The realization that I actually knew more than he did about something that was in one of the areas of his explanation was a little jarring.

"According to the other legend, when the Tamamo-no-Mae appeared to Miura-no-Suke, the warrior wasn't able to resist her seduction," I elaborated, my voice bemused. "In the end, the warrior agreed to aid the fox, and when he shot the arrow he missed on purpose. The Tamamo-no-Mae used her magic powers to fake her own death, cursing an innocent nearby stone in order to keep anyone from being able to investigate. Afterwards though, when the Miura-no-Suke returned back to the court and received such praise from the Emperor the warrior was ashamed of himself. He was unable to deal with the shame of his deception, and once he died it was HIS spirit which returned to the stone, denouncing the name that had received false accolades in life and assuming the name 'Hoji' instead.

"And afterwards, the Tamamo-no-Mae was free to continue her wicked deeds, laughing her malice at her vicious prank for the rest of her days." My voice was soft as I delivered the alternate ending to the old legend, and it was greeted by a moment of silence as the rest of the room took in the less pleasant option.

"Well, that's a bit screwed up," Sakaki finally grunted, taking a sip of his beer as he did so. "I think I like the first one better."

"Interesting," Akisame had a different opinion on the alternative. He actually sounded like he was intrigued by the possibility. "According to legends, foxes have always been rather deceitful. Especially the nogitsune." It didn't surprise me in the least that Akisame was already familiar with the different types of kitsune. "And nine tail foxes have always had a bad reputation according to legends."

"Maybe in Japan," Ma broke in, sounding rather smug as he added his own input to the conversation. "In China foxes were considered spiritual beasts, celestial beings in the service of the gods. Even the nine tails were considered benevolent." It sounded like the shorter Master was actually enjoying having the opportunity to brag about his own culture for a bit. Still, I turned to give him a blank gaze.

"Daiji and Baosi," I told him bluntly, and I was treated to the sight of my Master cringing sheepishly.

"Ah," he rubbed the back of his head, pushing his hat up so he could rub his palm against his bald scalp. "So you've heard of them?" he asked guiltily.

"Who were those two?" Miu asked, looking even more confused as she tried to keep up with this peculiar conversation of legendary foxes. It looked like the oddness of the conversation combined with the very good excuse of having been drugged so badly we still hadn't recovered had managed to calm down the killing rage she had been in earlier, and I was thankful for that much at least.

"Daiji was the nine tailed fox instructed by the goddess Nuuwa to bewitch the evil King Zhou and force him to ruin for his crimes," I told her. "She was ordered to do no harm to anyone else, but in the end she was responsible for creating hundreds of new tortures so horrific that they caused the kingdom to revolt and over throw Zhou. Afterwards, she was punished for her excessive cruelty. Baosi was another nine tail that did nearly the exact same thing in order to overthrow the King You."

"It's just a legend," Ma shrugged, still looking a little sheepish over having been caught out in his bragging.

"Yeah," I sighed. "Just a legend. But in every legend that nine tailed foxes appear in, they are always monstrous. Even Korea has legends about them too, the Kumiho, where the foxes have to eat the livers of humans in order to survive. I've never once heard the story of a benevolent nine tail."

"That's a rather impressive knowledge on the subject," the Elder noted, nodding his head slowly. It seemed that just like with the wolf the Elder was surprised by the depth of my knowledge of various legends.

"Mhm," Miu nodded, giving me a wide eyed as I apparently once more successfully impressed her with an ability which didn't resolve around books or being beaten up. I managed to give her a small smile in return, and she returned it happily.

"So if you were so knowledgeable about the subject," the Elder continued, "why did you risk going to meet someone who had such an ominous name?"

Miu's eyes widened in surprise as she realized what the Elder was implying and then they narrowed at me suspiciously. I cringed and looked away.

"Oi," Sakaki interrupted, waving one hand idly. "It's not like the kid went to see the actual Tamamo-no-whichimacalit," he defended me. I had trouble fully suppressing another wince. "It's just someone using the name to try and be melodramatic," he dismissed. "Even if there really were magical foxes, that nine tailed one would be long dead by now."

"Y-yeah…" I nodded, suppressing a swallow. Honestly, I had no idea if the fox last night was the original Tamamo or not. Foxes, especially the nogitsune, kept their own secrets well. No one really knew just how long a fox could live, or how the internal working of their titles worked. For all I knew, 'Tamamo' was just a title that was passed along, or maybe the fox last night was simply an ancestor of the original Tamamo.

I ignored that little twinge of instinct, the one that seemed to pop up whenever I was dealing with the Kai that told me that I was just lying to myself. In the end, it didn't matter. The original 'Tamamo' or not, it didn't change the fact that the Tamamo from last night had been a wicked and cruel creature.

"Even if it was just a pretender," Akisame added his own opinion, "it is disheartening to hear that Kenichi-kun would do something so reckless. Unless of course, he had some reason to believe that the reputation this 'Tamamo' was seeking to cash in on was somehow unfounded?"

I knew what Akisame was doing. He was trying to give me a way out, a chance to excuse myself and explain my actions. Unfortunately, I couldn't make use of that escape.

"No," I admitted softly. "I was aware of the Tamamo-no-Mae's reputation. It's unpleasant."

"How unpleasant?" Sakaki prompted me, his eyes narrowing as the fact that I had deliberately exposed myself to a dangerous situation became clear.

"Very unpleasant?" I offered, hoping that the vague answer would be enough.

Turns out it wasn't.

It had been a while since my Masters had released their combined ki against me in such an intimidating manner, but then again it had been a while since I had done anything stupid enough to warrant it. However, the angry aura which somehow simultaneously sprung from everyone present save for Miu and Apachai made my throat go dry as I tried to keep my heart from stopping in shock. Miu seemed vaguely affected as well as she let loose a cute little 'eep', though Apachai just glanced around, looking surprised by the sudden show of force.

I swear to god. Did they have some sort of prearranged signal for this kind of thing? How the hell do they synchronize it so well?

It was particularly effective this time around. I had been receiving this kind of ki pressure for years now during my time living in Ryouzanpaku. However, the extremely ominous feel that I could clearly identify as Shigure's was on a whole other level from what the others were producing. It seemed that as the only other participant in the debacle with the fox, she was particularly upset.

Under the combined pressure of my Masters I shamefully folded like a cheap card table.

"She likes to torture people until their minds snap and they can never recover!" I admitted hastily, my arms up as I tried to force the pressure away from me. "The only things she enjoy more than causing people pain is making people enjoy the pain they receive and destroying their sanity entirely! She's the most vicious, evil, ruthless, and cruel thing to ever walk the face of the earth! She tortures puppies and eats kittens! Now please don't kill me!" I begged shamelessly.

"No!" Miu gasped, her hands coming up to her mouth as the pressure finally relented. I swallowed hard, trying to ignore the cold sweat that had broken out all over me. Well, most of the pressure anyway. I was very nervous to note that Shigure hadn't quite seemed to quell her ki completely at this point. I glanced over at Miu, feeling ashamed of myself now that she knew just how dangerous my expedition last night had been.

At least, I was until Miu continued in a breathless voice. "You mean she actually kills kittens?" she demanded, outraged at the potential damage to her favorite species.

If this was an anime, I probably would face fault right now. Instead I just let myself fall back onto the futon with a groan.

"Yes," I said slowly. "She literally kills kittens." Though in the case of the Tamamo, that had less to do with deliberate cruelty and more to do with the fact that she was a fox and kittens were probably just the right size for a meal.

"Unforgiveable," Miu vowed, and I was pleased that the unholy light that promised murder that was shining in her eyes again wasn't being focused at me this time.

"Now, now, Miu," it was Ma who spoke up first, and despite my confession he seemed vaguely amused by the scene he was witnessing. "We all know how much Kenichi-kun likes to exaggerate."

"Indeed," Akisame added, and he also sounded like he was suppressing laughter. "I doubt that this Tamamo was really that bad." Sakaki snorted as well, and I realized that apparently the rest of the Masters honestly thought I was just overreacting, and that it really hadn't been as dangerous as I had described.

All except for Shigure. Instead, I felt her ominous ki increase just a little more. It looked like after having met the fox she at least was willing to accept the truth in my words.

"Still," the Elder chimed in this time, and even he seemed like he was suppressing a chuckle at the sight of his granddaughter preparing to go avenge kittens everywhere. "If you knew she was that dangerous, Ken-chan, than why would you take a risk like going to meet her?"

I sighed again, and even though my body was finally starting to feel like it was my own again I just flopped one hand up so I could cover my eyes with my forearm. "Because the Tamamo-no-Mae knows everything," I reminded the Elder. "And there was something that I was willing to risk it all to know."

"Ah," Akisame sounded as though he had come to a realization. "Yes, in the legend Tamamo was purported to be able to answer any question, no matter the topic," he allowed, still sounding amused. "But I hardly think that someone who was just using her name would be able to do the same."

"No," I corrected him immediately, and I heard a shuffle as the rest of the room reacted to the dark surety in my voice. "Even if it was just a faker using the name, the Tamamo-no-Mae can find out anything, about anyone, at any time. It's the reason that nobody has ever come back at her for vengeance after some of the stunts she pulled: either they know that they might someday need her for information themselves, or they're just too worried about the blackmail she has on them."

It was a unique position that the Tamamo had managed to find herself in, though knowing that cunning fox it was most likely by design she had ended up there. No matter what she did, no one would move against her. She had been spot on when she had taunted me with the fact that most other diviners would probably not have anything to do with me, and I wasn't the only creature of the Kai that had that problem. Even with the legends of her true nature being whispered, there were always those who would seek out the nine tailed fox, the Kyuubi-no-Kitsune, who would endure her tender machinations, and if the need arose again they would go back willingly for more.

The fox probably enjoyed that fact just as much as she enjoyed her other cruelties.

"Come on now," Sakaki at least still seemed amused by my assertion. I didn't know whether the fact that I had no credibility with my Masters when it came to this kind of thing was an annoyance or a relief. "It's not like some haughty lady with delusions of grandeur can be that good."

"She managed to drug Shigure and I, strip us naked, sneak into Ryouzanpaku, arrange us into a compromising position, escape, and none of you even noticed her coming or going, or even discovered that we were back until she had been gone for hours," I pointed out, and my ears were greeted with another shuffle as the rest of the room realized I was right. The fact that the fox had gotten past even the Masters of Ryouzanpaku, some of the strongest and most powerful fighters in the world, without them even knowing was ominous enough on its own. "If she wanted to, the Tamamo could do the exact same to anyone else, even to Yami if she wanted to. She probably already has."

"Is it true, Shigure-san?" Akisame was the first to speak up, and it seemed like even he needed some verification after having that particular fact pointed out to him. Shigure didn't respond verbally, but I heard her shift and a moment later Akisame continued. "That is rather troubling indeed. Was she a Master?" There was another shift from Shigure, and the room got quiet again.

"Ken-chan," the Elder finally spoke up, and I managed to shift my arms enough to look at him. The Elder was still stroking his beard again, a solemn look on his face. "You mentioned how you went to this girl for information. Just what was it you were trying to find out?"

I let the arm slip back down over my eyes. I felt… tired. Worn out. Like even if my body was almost completely recovered at this point it didn't even matter.

"Its personal," I told the Elder, and didn't elaborate any more than that.

"Oh? After you admitted that you deliberately went into a dangerous situation to get it, you think that you can just brush it off so easily?" Akisame seemed vaguely amused by my reticence, and I grimaced as I could already see where my Master was going with that train of thought. "Perhaps some training might…"

"Oi," surprisingly it was Sakaki that interrupted Akisame, and the jujitsu user paused. "Let it go, meddling mustache," the karate user continued, and the serious tone of his voice caused me to peak out from behind my arm again. "Everyone in Ryouzanpaku has a right to their privacy."

Sakaki was still leaning against the wall of the dojo, beer in hand, but I noticed with surprise that the karate user was deliberately looking away from where I was still being treated. A quick glance around the room revealed that Miu was looking uncomfortable, that Ma was refusing to meet my eyes, the Elder was looking at the floor, and that even Apachai had stopped trying to steal Sakaki's beer snacks.

I wasn't quite certain just what was going on until I caught sight of Akisame peering past the screen, the man's intense gaze studying me for a moment. When after a moment his eyes narrowed and he ducked back to tend to Shigure without a word it made me wonder just what was going on for a second.

Then it dawned on me, and I let my arm fall back on my face with a scowl.

I hated it when my Masters proved they knew me better than I knew myself. Or when they did those weird super insightful moments where they managed to ferret out all my secrets without me even noticing when they did it.

Nobody asked me whether or not I had gotten the answers I had been looking for last night.

I had originally thought that one of three things would happen when I went to the Tamamo-no-Mae. The least likely option would be that she would just kill me out of hand. She hadn't been lying when she reminded me how few iviners would like me, and I knew just how vicious the fox could be. However, I had thought that one of two other options would occur:

Either the fox would just toy with me, taking advantage of my desperation before leaving me without answering my questions, or the fox would toy with me, taking advantage of my desperation before leaving after having answered my questions.

Either way, the fox would get her fun out of me. In the end, I had gotten the answers I wanted, though it looked like the joke was on me again.

The only reason the fox had probably told me was because she knew just how much the answers would hurt to hear.

"Well," Ma spoke up, interrupting the tense atmosphere as the rest of the room purposefully didn't comment on my probably plane to see misery. "At least it looks like your body is healing well, Kenichi-kun." It sounded as though he was being purposefully bright, most likely hoping that the change in subject would cheer me up. "Why, it looks like that hack Akisame was also mistaken about your previous wounds," he continued, taking a cheerful jab at the other doctor in the room. "You're much further along in your healing than he seemed to think you were. You'll probably be fully healed by the end of the week."

If he had been hoping to comfort me, he was probably surprised when his words had the opposite effect on me. I stiffened, and a new chill went down my spine that had nothing to do with the fox.

*Scene Break*

I wasn't certain how I managed to get out of Ryouzanpaku after that. It was shortly after Ma realized that his attempt at encouragement had fallen short and the rest of the Masters had drifted away to do their own business that I was announced fit enough to move on my own power. Training had been called off for the day as well, though I wasn't certain if that had to do with my physical condition, my mental condition, or whether the Masters just wanted to meet among themselves to discuss the new development of their Disciple without said Disciple hearing them.

Whatever the case was, when I threw on a sweater, jeans, and shoes and walked out the front gate of the dojo, no one came to stop me. Maybe they had decided that I needed some space, or maybe they felt that since there was no training for the day I could do what I pleased, or maybe I had just been the wrong escape method in the past and I always could have gotten out this easily if I just had taken the straightforward method in the past.

I didn't know, and most likely wouldn't ever know the real reason. Whatever the case was, I left unimpeded. I already had a destination in mind for the day, and though it would have been quicker to take the bus to get there, I chose to walk.

It was late afternoon when I arrived at the only working lamp in a far off corner of a park whose name I could never remember. Gently, I reached out to touch the lamp post, the feel of cold iron and rough paint under my hand as I ran my fingers down the post.

It had been what, four years now since the last time I had been here? And yet, it felt as though it was only yesterday.

With a sigh, I turned so my back would be to the lamppost and collapsed so I could sit myself propped up against it. I brought my arms up, wrapping them around my legs as I did so, tucked my head into my knees, and lost myself in thought.

I don't know how long I was there, but when I heard a scuffle noise from directly above me I glanced up to find that the sun had once more traveled a significant portion of the horizon and was edging its way down out of the sky. This time, at least there had been no belligerent mountain god responsible for my loss of time.

"Dinner will get… cold," Shigure pointed out from where she was crouching. The older woman had curled herself up like a cat about to pounce on top of the extending arm of the lamp, her eyes locked on me as she studied me like a hunter watching their prey. She was dressed in another of her short purple kimonos, though she didn't have her trench coat anymore. The coat, along with all the weapons and the kimono she had been wearing yesterday were all lost at this point, tribute to a fox. I had never seen her wear anything other than that kimono before, but I suppose the fact that she apparently had several identical sets didn't come as a particular surprise to me. The only weapon she had today was her father's sword, once more strapped so that it rested loosely on her back.

"Yeah," I nodded to her earlier announcement, stretching one leg out in front of me and folding my arms on the still bent one. Despite my agreement, I didn't stand or make any move to return to Ryouzanpaku.

Slowly, a silence built between the both of us, one that didn't quite feel comfortable but didn't quite seem wrong either. I suppose I just didn't know what to say at this point. What kind of conversation do you have with someone after a night like yesterday? Or a morning like this one?

I suppose it was a mark of just how out of sorts I was that I barely even blushed at the memory of just what Shigure's body had felt like against mine. The last prank of the fox, putting us like that; it was such a disconcertingly innocent trick that it was hard to correlate it with the creature that had deliberately cut me while Shigure remained helpless, or had arranged a fake death in order to attack the ideals of a Katsujin Ken.

All things considered, just leaving us naked felt like something a college frat kid would do. Maybe the fox had just run out of material at that point?

Whatever the case, though I only flushed a little at the memory, I still found myself not able to look directly at my Master. If she hadn't been with me, if she hadn't been trying to look after me then she never would have had to experience something like last night. A part of me blamed myself for the way she was carefully holding her father's sword and how she too seemed to have trouble looking at me directly.

"I warned you," I blurted out finally, voicing what the other part of me felt. "I warned you that you shouldn't have come." That other part of me told me that it had been Shigure's fault, that if she hadn't forced herself along then nothing would have happened to her, and that I shouldn't feel guilty in the least.

I didn't like that part of me very much, but it didn't change the fact that it was right in a way.

"Yes. You… did," Shigure answered, her voice in its usual dispassionate tone. Again, a silence stretched between us. Just like I had noted before, after the Shikome, Shigure made no other motion to try and start a conversation. She probably had a right to at this point. There must have been a thousand questions going through her mind considering how fast she tended to think. Probably a thousand more rebukes, both to herself and to me for what had happened.

Despite that, she didn't speak a word. She made no move to chastise me for what I had put her through, or any demand for answers. Truthfully, she probably didn't need to. I was most likely berating myself far harder than even she could. After all, one of the things the fox had deliberately used to taunt her was how closely I guarded my secrets. The Tamamo had laughed over how even though Shigure had tried so hard to open up to me, I had never done the same to her.

It's just... I didn't want to. Open up that is. The secrets I were keeping weren't just being kept from Shigure. They were being kept from everyone else as well. There wasn't a soul left alive, save for that nosy fox perhaps, that new the whole story at this point besides me.

"This was the place where I died." I forced the words out, not giving myself time to hold them back or back out. If I hesitated for even a second, than I never would have been able to say them again, I think.

Shigure was silent for a moment in the face of my sudden confession. I wasn't certain if her silence was just her usual customary reaction or if I had somehow managed to shock her into silence with my bluntly delivered line. I couldn't force myself to look at her to find out, staring fixedly at a point somewhere beyond my knee.

"The first time," Shigure finally spoke. "You said that the first time you died… was when you entered the Nightworld." I nodded, not knowing what to say. Finally, Shigure continued. "How did it… happen?"

I gave a small laugh that came out more bitter than I intended. "I killed myself."

This time, I was fairly certain that the silence was shock. "Sui…cide?" Shigure asked, her voice unusually soft even for her.

"No," I shook my head in the negative. Suicide, that wasn't the right way to describe what had happened here. "Sacrifice."

Shigure made no response to my correction, and I was grateful for that. Now that the words were out, I found it was growing easier to talk. If she had interrupted, I don't know if I would have been able to continue my momentum.

"Sometimes, it's so hard to be around you Masters," I admitted. "Not just the Masters: everyone involved in the Underworld. Ryouzanpaku, Yomi and Yami, even the Shinpaku Alliance. It seems like everyone I know these days is so strong." I sighed, pausing, and this time Shigure spoke up.

"Kenichi is… too," she said firmly, and I smiled despite myself.

"No," I disagreed, shaking my head. "No I'm not. Not like everyone else. I have no talent for Martial Arts, and I always try to escape when the training gets too hard. Even though I have such amazing Masters, I can barely continue to scrap along, and there were times when the only reason I didn't give up was because none of you would let me. But no one ever has to force any of you Masters to continue, or Miu, or Tanimoto, or Takeda, or any of the others. Even Niijima keeps doing his best on his own. And here I am," I held one hand up to wave at myself, "just me."

"Just being you is enough… Kenichi," Shigure insisted again, and I could make out a bit of heat in her voice as she seemed to grow angry at my monologue. "You have your conviction, and that is… enough."

"Conviction," I repeated, tasting the word. "The only reason I have that is because I met Miu." I clenched my fist in front of my face, watching the digits contract and release in turn, seeing the way my forearms strained as the muscles underneath my skin moved accordingly. "Do you know," I began again, "that I was held back once, in school? That I should actually be graduating this year?"

Shigure made no response to that, and I continued anyway. "My first time through high school I didn't do too well. I'm not very smart, and back then I wasn't very strong or motivated. I didn't have any friends either. I just kind of drifted through the first half of the school year, doing only the smallest amount to get by. And you know what?" I felt a crooked smile forming. "I was fine with that. I didn't really think that there was any need to stand out or excel. I didn't even care that much that I didn't have friends. Back then, I always thought that friends were useless, that they didn't really exist. In the end, even if you get along with someone eventually there would be a day when you would grow apart from them and move on with your lives. I figured that it would be easier to just not get to know anyone in the first place, and then I wouldn't have to deal with people moving on."

Shigure was silent as she listened to my confession of a past that seemed like a whole other life at this point. I unclenched my hand and let it fall back to my knee.

"Then came the spring break of my first year," my voice was soft. "I was wandering away from the ceremony, by myself, and I realized that there was nothing special in my life. All the other students were going off in groups, and I just walked out by myself, not having anything else to do. Well, almost by myself. I met someone then, by coincidence, and we ended up talking for a bit."

That had been the day I had first talked with Hanekawa. I still remembered just what her panties looked like back then, even to this day.

"It was later on that night, when I was out…." I trailed off, and decided not to mention that I had been out looking for some ero-books, "running some errands, that I started thinking about my life. About how it was going, and how it could be going if I had done things different. It was then that I took a shortcut through this park. It was right here that I met… her."

"Your zebra," Shigure confirmed, her voice once more toneless. "The one called… Shinobu."

It looked like even in that desperate situation under the fox's spell, Shigure once again proves just how sharp Masters really were. Even in those circumstances she had caught that name.

"Yes," I nodded, my eyes losing their focus as I remembered a different time at this very scene. "She was laying right here. She had been wounded, badly. She was dying, and desperate. And she was…" I trailed off. How did I describe the first time I had laid eyes on Shinobu? No, on who Shinobu used to be: Kiss Shot Acerola Hearts Under Blades. At the time she had been maimed, missing her arms and her legs, nothing but ragged stumps that looked as though they had been gnawed off. She had been sitting here, where I was right now unable to move, unable to do anything. And even then she had been beautiful, beautiful in a way that I couldn't articulate even to this day.

"She was real in a way that I didn't think I could ever be," I finally finished. I didn't know how else to put it. For a moment silence settled back down on the two of us.

"What happened… then?" Shigure finally spoke up, pulling me from my thoughts of Shinobu.

"She asked me to die for her," I said simply. "Selfishly, without a second thought, begged me to give up my life for her so that she could live. And at the time, I couldn't think of any reason not to." I sighed, stretching out my bunched leg and feeling it pop slightly before I brought it back in. "I remember thinking that if someone who was living such an insignificant life like I was could die for someone like her, then in a way I would live on through her. That dying like that would have made my life have meaning, and that maybe in the next life I could do a better job, do all the things I hadn't been brave enough or smart enough to do this time."

"How did you… recover?" Shigure prompted me again, this time almost immediately. From the sound of her voice it looked like my Master was captivated by my story.

"She repented her actions, and got me the treatment I would need to survive," I hunched lower. "It was dangerous, but I very nearly recovered completely. But then…" I trailed off, and brought my other leg back up so I could hunch closer to them both. "Then she did something horrible, something which I could never approve of. And in return, I did something terrible back to her."

I didn't elaborate any further. When I heard Shigure shift above me, I finally forced a breath out and continued.

"I don't like this story," I admitted softly. "In the end, it was just two foolish people doing careless things to each other."

I had no idea what Shigure was thinking about when I finished my confession. Finally, she seemed to reach a conclusion and spoke again. "What was the relation between you… two?"

I glanced up for the first time since I started talking to find that Shigure had shifted at some point during my story. She was laying on her back, still balanced on the arm of the lamppost. She had both hands back behind her head, and her legs propped up much in the same way mine were. It was an odd position, especially considering that the lamp looked far too thin for someone to be resting like that so casually. It also was a position that made it impossible to see Shigure's face, and I found I couldn't quite identify what she was feeling from her voice either.

"What do you mean?" I asked, and Shigure shifted slightly again.

"Were you two friends… or enemies… or lovers?" my Master elaborated slowly, and I let my gaze drop back down to the ground.

"She was…" I began, not knowing how to describe my relationship with Shinobu. She had been my mentor, and my Master, and my subordinate, and my enemy, and my ally, and my friend. She had depended on me to live, and hated me for it, and had tried to die for me. And in the end, I had thought she finally had done just that…

"She was the one existence I can never forgive," I finally settled on. It was just like she had declared when she finally started speaking to me again after months of stony silence. It was the only way to describe the relationship between Shinobu and I: two foolish people who had done unforgiveable things to the other, regardless of the reasons why. I have had many friends and enemies, people I have loved and hated, but there was only one person in the world that I could never truly forgive.

Shigure didn't seem to understand, and I heard her shift again, but I had a feeling that if it was Sakaki here he would. I didn't know the full extent of their history, but I think that for Sakaki it was Hongou who held the same title that Shinobu did for me.

"What happened to… her?" Shigure finally prompted me, and I let my head fall back against the lamp with a 'clank' noise, ignoring the small sting the motion gave me. I closed my eyes and continued.

"We moved on," I admitted. "Made friends, and dealt with the things that got in our path. I tried to help many people with their problems, and ended up getting deeper and deeper into the Nightworld." I felt a small smile form as I let myself reminisce on those other times. The smile faded.

"And then they all died, and I learned the hard way that in the Nightworld all debts are repaid, one way or another."

Shigure didn't seem to know what to say to that. That was fine. I didn't really want to talk about it anymore either.

"You never mentioned any of this… before," she finally pointed out, and I felt another small bitter smile form.

"No one ever asked." The moment the words left my lips I grimaced, realizing how flippant and accusing they probably sounded. "No," I shook my head, correcting myself. "Even if anyone would have asked, I wouldn't have answered, or lied about it." I shifted again, feeling uncomfortable with trying to explain why I never spoke about the things I never spoke about.

"It was really hard, right after it happened," I elaborated, my voice steady. "I had a lot of trouble dealing with their loss. It got so bad that I ended up flunking out of the high school I was going to back then. Eventually, I managed to get everything back together, and when I reentered a new high school I just repeated my freshmen year.

"After I had first started making friends, I realized how important they were," I continued. "And even though I lost my first ones, I ended up making new ones as well. I worked harder at my grades too. Even if I was still weak, and stupid, and not that good looking, I started trying harder to improve myself. And then…" I smiled, the first real smile I probably had the entire conversation, "I met Miu, and the rest you already know."

If I had never met that blonde girl who moved like an assassin, I wondered just how my life would have gone. Would I have managed to build myself back up as well as I had? Would I be able to protect the things I cared about, or would I have anything that mattered to me at all like I once did?

"You two really do… get along well," Shigure said, and I noticed that she sounded a bit sad. It looked like she might be regretting having heard my story now. Then, as though changing the subject, she continued. "So with this you've died… three times."

I guess Shigure really wasn't that good at changing subjects.

"Actually, four times now," I corrected, eye still closed as I felt the last warmth of the sun on my face.

"In… Tirat?" Shigure asked, and I nodded again. It wasn't that hard to figure out where my newest encounter with death had occurred.

"This time I was helped by a stubborn ghost who wouldn't let me forget a promise to him." There had been a few moments in the pit with Miu and Pengulu where I had been beyond the edge of even my incredible endurance, and those few moments were long enough for me to have a meeting with someone who had gone on ahead. I was thankful to Kanou Shou for that. If it hadn't been for his words, then I don't know if I would have been able to gather enough strength to pull myself back from the edge I had teetered on.

I frowned momentarily, coming to a decision. "Don't tell Sakaki-sensei or Miu-san," I asked Shigure. I don't think it would be easy for those two to hear that little tidbit. For Sakaki, learning that his Disciple had died on his watch might be a bit of a blow to him, and for Miu…

Well, having someone die for you was hard. It was something I understood all too well.

Shigure made no response to my request, but I think I knew her well enough by now to be able to tell that she most likely would grant it. Still, it seemed like there was something else on my quiet Master's mind.

"Do you ever think about telling… the rest of Ryouzanpaku?" she asked, her voice unusually slow even for her.

"No," I shook my head immediately, eyes still closed.

"Why… not?"

"Because the Nightworld is different from the real world and the Underworld," I said slowly. "You know that now. The rules, the inhabitants…" I trailed off trying to think of a way to explain just how divorced from the rest of the world the Kai were. "It's like all of reality is a play," I settled on, "and the Nightworld is everything that goes on backstage. Once you know the secrets that happen behind the curtains, you can never look at the play the same way."

"Is that so…bad?" Shigure prompted me, and I got the impression that she was dissatisfied by the answer. "It feels like you are trying to protect the rest of us… Kenichi," she continued. "But I don't think that they… need that protection."

"Would it change anything, if they knew?" I countered, shaking my head again. "Would it make them any safer? It would just put them in danger. More danger than even a normal person faces when they are welcomed to the Nightworld."

"That's not… true," Shigure countered, but her voice sounded troubled.

"A normal person would never have thrown shuriken at the Tamamo-no-Mae," I pointed out, a touch of rebuke in my voice, and I heard Shigure shift slightly at the accusation. "For people of the Underworld, Masters in particular, they're so used to living by their own rules that they can't adjust to the new ones. All it would take would be Sakaki-san trying to bull through the wrong Kai, or Akisame-san or Ma-san trying to treat one of them like they would a normal human, and then…"

I trailed off, but I think that Shigure understood. She didn't seem to like it though.

"I just think they would be… happier," Shigure offered, sounding vaguely petulant. "Being able to share in their… Disciple's life."

"After what happened last night, are you happier, Shigure-san?" I snorted bitterly. She hadn't deserved what the fox had done to her, and I think I will always regret not just calling the whole thing off the moment she had appeared behind me on the train.

"Yes," Shigure's voice startled me when it came from directly in front of my closed eyes. When I opened them with a start it was to find that once more she had chosen to perform her bat impression. She was hanging from the arm of the lamppost by her toes, her hair falling down around her like an obsidian curtain despite the fact that her kimono was again defying gravity to preserve her modesty. I was startled when I saw how close her face was to mine, and I flushed slightly as the proximity triggered a memory of this morning.

I was never going to get over that. Or live it down once the shock wore off and the rest of Ryouzanpaku deemed it appropriate teasing material.

I was drawn back from my thoughts as Shigure surprisingly started to reach out for me, her hand moving slowly with frequent pauses. I blinked, not sure what she was planning to do, but held still to give her time to do it. Eventually, Shigure nodded to herself, and her hand came out to rest on my shoulder, palm flat. I glanced down at it, a little shocked at the gesture. Shigure was never a very tactile person. She had touched me before, yeah, but only in regards to Martial Arts when she had to correct a stance or demonstrate specific movement. This was no such gesture, something which was more casual, and strangely more intimate.

"I am happy that I got to see… a part of your life," Shigure continued, though it looked like she was blushing slightly herself as she forced herself to use the unfamiliar gesture. She tilted her head so she could look away slightly, but continued. "I think the others would be… too."

With those words she flexed her legs slightly and dropped to the ground in front of me in a smooth flip to land on her feet. "I'm going back… now," she announced, her back to me in what was most likely an effort to hide her own embarrassment. I wasn't certain if she was embarrassed because of the unfamiliar contact, or whether the events of last night were still affecting her, or if it was the way the two of us woke up, but I found such an obvious display of emotions from my stoic Master to be oddly heartening. "Are you coming…too?"

"There are still a few things I need to deal with," I told her, my voice soft. "I'd like to be alone for a bit, if it's okay." Watching her straight back as she nodded once briefly.

"Then come back when… you're ready," Shigure told me, and without a glance backwards she turned and left.

It was only after she was gone that I let out another sigh. Well. What do you know? It looks like even someone as talentless as I could improve quickly if the situation called for it.

This time not even Shigure had noticed when I lied to her.

Unless…

A quick search revealed that this time I was free of mouse infestation, and I breathed out in relief.

The park was empty, and with no one around to watch I slowly brought one of my hands up, and ran my index finger gently across my teeth. It moved easily, sliding across the porcelain of my molars and my incisors, dimpling slightly at the pressure.

However, when it reached my canine it pricked, ever so slightly, and I felt my skin tear as they caught on the unusually sharp tooth.

"Damn," I muttered, pulling the bleeding digit out so I could watch it. A small drop of blood was already forming there, but before the drop could gather enough mass to start dripping it paused.

Slowly, the liquid that had escaped my body began to dissolve in front of my eyes, flaking into red specs that drifted and then vanished into the air. As though in rewind I watched the blood seemingly reversed its flow, forcing its way back into my veins and then even the small tear repaired itself.

The whole event took nearly ten minutes, but I didn't move the entire time it was occurring. I had thought that trait of me was gone, bled out at the same time that I had thought I had lost my instincts, when I thought I had finally escaped the Nightworld for good.

How on earth was I going to explain this to my Masters? My body was already nearly fully recovered from the injuries which had lingered after Tirat, and with the way my Masters knew me there was no way I would be able to conceal this unnatural healing to them.

"Damn that fox," I muttered, but the words were hollow. Even without the scene this would cause at Ryouzanpaku, it was also the final evidence I needed in order to confirm what the fox had told me. She must have known, just what response her actions would provoke from me. She must have known just what it would mean, just how I would react.

Which was probably the reason why she had told me in the first place, the bitch.

It looked like the gods weren't the only jerks around.

With one last shaky breath I stood, and started to make my way into the growing night.

However, it wasn't to Ryouzanpaku that I was heading, or to my home. I wouldn't be returning to either place for what could possibly be a very long time, if ever.

There was something which I needed to do first.


	4. Chapter 4

Honor Thy Master

_Author's Notes: So, did you really think I'd abandon this story?_

_For those wondering why this isn't In Flight again, well, after the last chapter I sat down to try and write and realized I stubbornly didn't feel like it. After tapping away at it and posting a few omakes on the forums to try and get in the mood, I realized what was holding me back:_

_Too much darn happiness! Most of the stuff I'd been writing lately has been cheery, or just humor. Where was the blood, the gore, the raw self destructive atavism? _

_With that revelation, I turned back to this chapter, which I had been planning for a while but put off when I got back into my 'In Flight mood'._

_Now that this has been expressed, back to chapter 32!_

_Anyway, brief little focus on the chapter itself..._

_*Spoilers*_

_This is probably the chapter which focuses most on Martial Arts and not on monsters like the others. I still managed to work in some historic legends and myths, Oiwa comes to mind, but for the most part this is about Kenichi, and his friends, and what it means to carry out an oath at all costs. _

_I was aiming for a building, hopeless tension in this chapter. I tried to really express the emotions and thoughts of someone who was on edge, who had pressed themselves too far, who was about to snap, and who eventually did._

_Let me know how I did on that, if you will. I'm eager to see if I managed to portray what I wanted to, or if I just got caught up in my own point of view and ended up flopping._

_*Spoiler End*_

_And so, here's chapter 4 of Honor Thy Masters. In it we get a glimpse of what happened in Kenichi's past, his friends learn that he's not alright, and in the end Kenichi proves that anyone can break._

_Anyone._

_Give a review if you have something you want to say, but as always, enjoy._

_*Story Start*_

It was the vampire which showed me that there was no longer any going back from the path I had chosen to walk.

I was tired.

How many days had it been since I slept?

It didn't matter at this point. Sleep was just one of the things I had learned to do without. After so many months of training in Ryouzanpaku, after all the endless training and insanely dangerous battles I had been through, I had learned to deal with pain and discomfort. Still, it was in the back of my head as I walked, shrugging my hooded jacket a little higher so that I could pull the hood lower in front of my face. The crowd around me would occasionally give me odd looks, but I had the impression that they were originating from something besides my unusual state of dress.

The smell was probably the source of their attention anyway. It had been a while since I'd been able to bathe, after all. Longer even since I had the chance to change my clothes.

Who knew that being a homeless vagabond would be so unhygienic? I probably should have seen that coming. It wasn't like I hadn't seen others in the same state I was currently in before. The dirty and the desperate, the ones who had nowhere to go, no one to count on, the lost sheep of society; I had heard before that some people lived this sort of life of their own choice.

It was hard for me to understand those people. Then again, just how alike was I to them? I could tell myself that I still had home waiting for me, that there were still those who worried about me, but would I be lying?

Was there still somewhere for me to return to, and people waiting for me after I had disappeared on them like I had?

I shook my head violently, my hood flapping as I did so. What the hell was I thinking about? Focus, Kenichi. You aren't out here for the scenery.

It was probably just the sleep deprivation kicking in.

Gods, I was tired.

It was hot, the large open room packed with such a crowd that even if the owners had decided to try and air condition the place there was no way they would have been able to find a system strong enough to cool this mass down. The heat was only compounded by the late summer air, the humidity drawing even more sweat from the rolling crowd. Most of the other inhabitants present just seemed to ignore it, focusing more on the large rings set up throughout the warehouse. Maybe they seemed to think that showing weakness would only be a mark against them, or maybe they enjoyed the weight of humanity that was pressing down on them, or maybe they were just too drunk or drugged to care as they turned their attention to the struggles going on around them.

It was an underground fighting ring after all. Places like this weren't known for attracting the most hygienic or picky of crowds.

High above the open floor and seats there were a few rooms that were completely enclosed, no doubt with actual climate control within. These were the places where the rich would come, drinking champagne and loosening the ties on their suits as they placed bets and pretended that their money made them better than the rest of the masses. Most of the women that were present were in those rooms, dressed in slinky outfits or suits of their own as they interacted with their peers, seemed to think so judging from a few actions they were performing that I could make out even down here.

Below though, below was the madhouse that I was currently pushing my way through, glancing about as I tried to find my prey. Down here was where all the actual fighters gathered, an eclectic mass of people of all shapes and sizes. Here were the men with bulging biceps wearing vests and doing their best to look like rejects from 80's style shounen manga, or wore ridiculous ensembles that were meant to make them look sleeker, or cooler, or more attractive. Mixed in amongst the were those who had just gathered to drink and be merry or make bets on the actual fights, salarymen and yakuza in suits of all shades as well as punks and hoodlums all covered with spikes and leather.

Down here, one mid-teen boy in a too large hooded coat that stank a little was just another face in the crowd.

At least I hoped so. The last thing I wanted was to be recognized here. The last time I had come was with Sakaki, after all, and I had made a bit of a good showing before we had pulled out with our winnings. I distinctly remembered just how eager the owner of this fighting ring was to keep Sakaki happy, no doubt in an effort to keep my Master from destroying the entire place in a fit of annoyance. If word had gotten to the owner that Sakaki was looking for me then I had no doubt that eagerness to accommodate would translate over to me being ratted out.

If that happened than my only hope would be that they would try and hold me until my Master arrived and I would have enough time to knock them all out and run before he showed up.

I should never have come here, but this was where the signs had pointed, so here was where I had come. I could feel it too, the tingle of power on my skin, raising the hairs on the backs of my arms as I basked in the insubstantial presence.

It was here alright. No doubt about it.

I wondered just how the crowd would react if they learned that somewhere in the middle of this madhouse there was a vampire that was no doubt even now trying to decide which of the powerful and acclaimed fighters or happy and clueless gamblers would make for the best meal.

Most of the fighters would probably try and challenge it, now that I think about it.

You know, I honestly wasn't too certain how that would work out. On one hand, the vampire was no doubt an inhuman monstrosity that sustained its life by praying on the generally weaker humanity, feasting on their blood and then their corpses in a ghoulish display of macabre savagery.

On the other hand, some of the fighters gathered here were Master class in their own right, humans who had surpassed all sensible barriers of strength and possessing inhuman skills that could no doubt make them right at home fighting some of the Kai face to face.

Whatever. It didn't matter. All that mattered was that I found the vampire. Any hypothetical confrontation would be rendered moot at that point.

When I was done with the vampire, then it wouldn't be in any shape to harm anyone again.

Just like the four I had found before this one.

It was times like these that I was thankful that Tokyo was such an enormous and famous city. It was harder than I had thought it would be, hunting vampires. It's not like they grew on trees, after all. They were a species of Kai, and the Kai were rare even on the best of occasions. If vampires weren't such a relatively common species of the Oddities, then there would have been no way that I would have been as productive as I have been so far.

Despite that, maybe because of the popularity of Tokyo as an international destination or maybe just because vampires were a relatively prolific species, there hadn't been a shortage yet on prey.

Perhaps it was the sleep deprivation again, but the thought of seeing a fellow sentient creature as nothing more than 'prey', as a thing to be hunted and then dealt with, didn't even disturb me anymore. It helped, I think, that vampires as a whole were a dangerous and lethal type of Kai. A vampire didn't think twice about preying on humanity, and whenever a human met a vampire it rarely turned out as anything but bad for the human. After all, vampires fed on humans. First on their blood, to sustain them, and then they fed on the corpses of their victims as well.

There have always been a lot of stories about how vampires turned humans. Things like needing to drink the vampire's blood, or needing to be preyed on a certain number of times. The truth was, the only thing needed to be turned into a vampire was to be fed on until death and then time. After a human died, they would come back as a vampire themselves, usually the next day but sometimes a few days later. Thankfully, this potential exponential growth of the species was hampered by the fact that vampires generally didn't like other vampires.

So in order to keep more of their species from being formed, they simply ate the corpses of their victims immediately afterwards. This way they could get every last drop of nourishment from their prey while simultaneously keeping more of their kind from forming.

It was a sort of comfort that every vampire I came across and dealt with had at one point or another either murdered and cannibalized an innocent victim, or had been a victim themselves at one point or another. That with the four I had already dealt with, I had probably either avenged hundreds of deaths or put a hopeless victim out of their misery.

Still, even if it was a comfort, it was a cold comfort at best. It wasn't like I was hunting just for the sake of protecting humanity. If I was that noble in the first place, I never would have ended up in this position.

And if what I was planning worked out, then I could in the end create something so much worse than the four creatures I had already dealt with.

Shake it off Kenichi, I warned myself, trying to focus as a nearby gambler elbowed me by accident, spilling some of his harsh smelling drink on my already stained coat as he did so. Shake it off. Focus. You know what you're doing, and you already took the first step. You can't go back now, so just keep going forward.

It was a bitter mantra, but it helped me focus. Unfortunately, it wasn't like the focus was doing anything useful. I had tracked the vampire to this wild scene, had infiltrated without being noticed, and was ready to confront the beast.

But I still couldn't find the thing, which was a bit of a problem.

When I had been a vampire myself, the vampire exorcist specialists who had tracked me down hadn't seemed to have this trouble. Even when I had just been wandering around with no real destination, the three had honed in on me like it was nothing. However, whatever skill or trait the three had used to find me back then, I didn't seem to quite have the same talent for it.

I knew the vampire was here, that much I could say for certain. Those instincts that had been so long dormant and had begun to reawaken ever since a Shikome tried to kill a friend's Master were back for sure now. In fact, they were stronger than ever at this point, and would most likely only get even more so with time. But that didn't mean I could use them very well. It wasn't like I had ever gotten any training in 'mystic vampire powers'. I had barely been able to use even the most basic of them before they had been rendered dormant by my near return to humanity.

Which was what led me to my current position: standing in one of the rowdiest underground fight clubs in the Underworld, with a clock ticking down till someone recognized me and called in the cavalry, wondering just which of the oddly dressed rogues and combat junkies around me was actually an undead bloodsucking monstrosity.

Maybe it was a sign of my growing cynicism, but I couldn't help but feel that there was a punch line just waiting to happen with that statement, one which would end up with me as the butt of the joke.

So when from somewhere behind me I heard someone shout out, "Yo! Kenichi!" I wasn't even surprised in the least.

Even as the sound of my name cut through the haze of my tiredness, my mind was already beginning to race. What I did next would depend a great deal on just who it was that had discovered me. If it was a member of Ryouzanpaku, well, that was game over right there. There wasn't anyone in that dojo that I could probably handle in one on one combat, except for maybe Miu. If it was Miu though, then there would be no way I'd be able to fight at my full capability. However, there were probably other parties looking for me as well.

Yomi for instance.

Just because I had ran away from Ryouzanpaku didn't mean that I still wasn't technically their Disciple anymore. The organization of the Satsujin Ken had already marked me as a target before, and if anything, me being gone from Ryouzanpaku just made me all the more tempting. I had come across both Rachel and Ethan Stanley here as well, after all. It was the first time I had met either one of them, actually. It wouldn't be too unthinkable that they might have come back for their own amusements or personal reasons.

And sadly, those two groups weren't even the limits of who could potentially be looking for me at this point.

With all those thoughts racing through my head, when I finally turned my face towards my confronter I did so while deliberately mapping out the nearest escape points.

However, once I did see who had called my name I paused.

"Who are you again?" I asked, feeling confused as I tried to recognize the person in front of me.

When the boy who had been running toward me heard my question he tripped, apparently so surprised by my enquiry that he actually missed a step. He looked vaguely familiar, I'd admit that much. I could have sworn I'd seen those armbands before, and the great coat he was wearing half open was probably a clue as well. It did look a little too warm to be wearing in this swelter box, after all, but when it came to fashion I couldn't really be pointing any fingers either.

"Are you kidding?" my confronter snapped, pushing himself off the ground and back to his feet as he glared at me. "That's just what Kisara said! Come on! I'm going to cry if this keeps up!"

My ears perked and I heard this stranger so casually drop one of my friends' names. I turned to face the still complaining young man, and as I did I studied his features a bit closer. There was something about him, something which I remembered….

It was his hair that finally made the connection in my head switch. "Ah!" I yelped, raising a hand to point at the newcomer. He paused, and a hopeful look came across his rough face as he waited expectantly. "It's you! Sh…" I trailed off, narrowing my eyebrows as I tried to remember his name. "Sh…. Shaggy?" I finally settled on, somewhat certain that was what he was called.

Shaggy scowled, dropping his head so he could palm his face with one of his hands. "That's wrong," he growled at me, glaring at me from between his fingers. "It's Shinnosuke, you idiot," he snapped, putting one hand out so he could point at me as he stood up straight. "Tsuji Shinnosuke!"

"Oh yeah," I nodded, lifting one hand so I could drop it as a fist in the palm of the other. "I kind of remember you. Weren't you the first guy to ever pull a knife on me?"

"Pull a knife…? What the hell are you talking about?" the other young man growled. For some reason, it was as though the fact that I couldn't quite recognize him seemed to annoy him.

"No, you're right," I nodded, scratching my chin as I tried to remember who I was thinking about. "What was that guy's name? Uru… Uru-something Taka-something." I squinted as I turned away, knowing that trying to remember this name through the haze of my exhaustion was going to be annoying me all night. Maybe if I found the vampire fast enough I'd be able to put some serious thought into it.

"And you're just going to walk away?" the other guy, Shaggy I think he said his name was shouted, stamping one foot angrily as I paused, turning to give him a curious look. I wonder what was getting him so upset? "You don't even properly recognize me yet!"

"Should I?" I asked, honestly confused by what Shaggy was trying to say. "I'm sorry," I turned to give him a small bow, "but I'm really busy at the moment. Could you wait to introduce yourself until some other time?"

"Introduce?" Shaggy gaped at me. "You're going to make me cry if you keep this up," he muttered, looking very upset about something. "I just introduced myself! It was Tsuji Shinnosuke! Doesn't that ring a bell?"

Wordlessly, I shook my head in the negative. Shaggy slumped, a wounded look on his face as he did so.

"I was the guy who beat you twice, remember?" he muttered, though he didn't sound too proud about the accomplishment at the moment. One of my eyebrows cocked at his boast. I vaguely remembered something like that happening. "I told you that I was going to run away so that you would never get the chance to fight me again. Ring any bells?"

"Oh!" I snapped my finger, pointing one hand at him in accusation. "I remember now. You're that jerk of a mophead!" Finally, I was able to remember why Shaggy seemed so familiar. Despite myself, I narrowed my eyes at the sight of the man who I had lost to by a fluke and had then fled before we could have a rematch.

"Now it looks like you remember," Shaggy grinned as he took in my response. His eyes flickered up and down my body as he took in my slight change to a more aggressive stance. "Well, well," he taunted, adjusting his body to be more ready for combat. "It looks like someone might be wanting to take a stab at getting back their title."

For a moment, neither of us spoke, and a slight tension began to form in the air between the two of us. I suppose it said something for the bystanders that the impending fight seemed to spark some interest in those surrounding us. Then again, most of the people gathered here had some combat experience, so I guess being able to identify an imminent battle was probably pretty easy to them. Slowly, a few of the watchers began to back away, not far enough so that they wouldn't be able to keep an eye on the two of us, but away enough not to be swept up in the middle of a fight.

Still, it was attention, and I wasn't particularly looking for attention at the moment. More than that, I was here for a reason, and that reason wasn't settling a childish grudge. With a shrug, I relaxed my body, turning away from Shaggy.

"I already told you I was busy," I called over my shoulder, already turning my attention back to the crowd around me, trying to decide just which of the mix of eccentrics might be my bloodsucker. "I'll have to take a rain check."

"Wait!" Shaggy yelped, and he sounded so honestly surprised that I glanced back to see what he wanted. He had stretched one hand out to me as though he was thinking about grabbing my shoulder but was too far away to quite reach. "Are you serious?" Shaggy demanded, gawping at me as he did so. "You're actually going to walk away from a fight to reclaim your honor?"

"Well, it wasn't like it was a very serious fight back then," I reminded him, shrugging as I did so. "And the only reason you won was because I was being conceited and then you attacked me from behind. In the end, I guess it was a good learning experience for me."

"Uh… Wha…. Huh…?" It looked like Shaggy was honestly having a hard time trying to understand what I was saying. "But… But…!"

"So while it was kinda weird meeting you here again," I continued, my eyes still tracking around the rest of the room in an attempt to divine my target, "why don't we just accept this meeting as one of those strange things that happen sometimes, and go our separate ways?"

"But what about your honor as a man?" Shaggy demanded, pointing at me again while he stomped his foot angrily. It looked like he hadn't changed that much in the time since we last met. I kinda remembered him going on about that kind of thing in the past as well. "Damnit Kenichi! Every time! Every time we meet you end up looking down on the romance of man. First when you argued against gathering an army of punks, then when you wouldn't have a rematch with me! Now you're not refusing to try and reclaim your title?"

"I told you already: I'm too busy right now," I reminded him, not paying much attention to his ramblings. "I have more important things to do right now. We can play some other time."

"Play?" Shaggy shrieked, his voice high pitch as I brushed him off. "You think this is…? A sacred battle between men and you…?" Shaggy was an okay kind of guy actually, but it wasn't too hard to see that he tended more towards the simpler things like hitting and punching people then towards more intellectual inclinations. Still, it was so odd, running into him here. If I had a diary, I might have written about this fondly in it.

At least, that was what I thought of the whole thing as I turned to continue my quest before he had to go and drop the bomb on me.

"So you're just gonna run away like a coward, you chickenshit?" Shinnosuke snapped at me, the sneer in his voice obvious even with my back turned to him. I froze, and I couldn't stop a small twitch of my eyebrows.

"Say that again," I said, my voice dangerously soft. Behind me, I heard Shinnosuke chuckle.

"I thought that would get your attention," he gloated. Eyes still narrowed, I turned so I could look over my shoulder at him from the corner of my eye.

Shinnosuke was a tall boy, no, he was old enough to be considered a man by now. With his long hair and black coat opened to mid-chest he fit in well with the rest of the odd clothes that most of the fighters gathered in the underground fighting ring tended to favor. He had a physique which advertised that he too was someone who would fit in as well on the ring as around it, and though they were faint he had a fair collection of scars marking his body from some of his bouts in the past, the most obvious one a small cross shape low on his cheek.

Of course, the most important part of his appearance right now was the wide grin he was sporting as he watched the reaction his taunt brought out in me.

"I said, 'Say that again,'" I told him, giving him a chance to withdraw what he had just said to me.

"Didn't hear me the first time?" Shinnosuke grinned, folding his arms as he taunted me. "I called you a 'coward' and a 'chickenshit'." He leaned forward, a superior smirk on his face as he repeated his insults. "Now the question is, what are you going to do about it?"

I had put up with a lot over the years. Once, back during my first time through high school, I wouldn't have cared that much about insults like that. Back then, I didn't care much about people in general. I was always alone, and even if I really wasn't happy I was content at least. The insults and opinions of others never really mattered to me. That had begun to change after I had my initiation in to the Nightworld. More and more I began to take the opinions of others more seriously. That was only compounded after I began training at Ryouzanpaku.

I had undergone monstrous experiences, unnatural training, brutal battles, and horrors beyond the ken of most mortal minds. I had done so, so that I could stand up to the wrongs of the world and fight for what I believed in. I was proud of what I had gone through.

I didn't go through all that so that some punk with an ego could go around calling me names.

"Well," I told Shinnosuke, turning to face him directly. Around us, more people had begun to gather as the drama unfolded before them. It said something about the general atmosphere of the fight club that most of the watchers seemed to be calling jeers of encouragement rather than trying to break the two of us up. I think I saw some money change hands as some of the watchers apparently began to make side bets on the upcoming combat. "I guess I can take the three seconds I'd need to beat you before I get back to important matters."

Despite my return insult, Shinnosuke's grin only widened.

*Scene Break*

"Shinnosuke," I began, feeling my eye twitch from where it was concealed beneath my hood. "What is going on?"

"Forgotten already, Kenichi?" the other boy laughed boisterously, and I winced at how loud he was saying my name. "We're about to have a title match!"

"No," I shook my head, the twitch remaining. "I know that. I meant, what are we doing here?"

"Getting ready to fight, of course!" he continued to display an indecent level of cheer despite my obvious distress.

"I know that you idiot!" I snapped, the twitch coming faster now. "But how the hell did we end up on one of the rings!"

"You gonna chicken out now, scaredy-cat?" Shinnosuke grinned at me and his taunt was met with the jeers of approval from the crowd. I don't know how he had managed to arrange it, but somehow the rough boy had managed to appropriate one of the side rings, and as though the spectacle alone was enough a small crowd had already begun to form around us.

"Stop calling me names," I snapped at him, burying my face in one of my palms. One of these days my newfound pride was going to get me in trouble it seemed, and I could only hope that today wasn't that day. This wasn't the first time I had stepped into this ring, after all. Luckily, it didn't seem like I had been memorable enough for the announcer to recall the mysterious 'Child A' who had shown up in the shadow of the much more noticeable Sakaki.

At least, I hoped that was the case.

Well, as annoying as this little side trip was, it did present some opportunities that I hadn't had earlier in my search for the vampire.

"Enough talking!" Shinnosuke shouted, and the crowd roared in approval. With one move, the other boy somehow managed to simultaneously unbutton and then remove his great coat, tossing the garment aside with a flourish. The crowd seemed to love that too, and Shinnosuke leered in response to the approval. "Get ready Kenichi! Today's my first title defense!"

"If you haven't gotten stronger by now, then it's going to be a short fight," I told him, and settled into my own stance, legs shoulder width apart and arms up in the defensive 'Maeba no Kamae', the 'Front Wing' stance of Karate. It's a stance meant for absolute defense, and the one which Sakaki-shishou always tended to favor whenever he was fighting. Settling back, I waited.

And waited.

And waited some more.

"….What's taking so long?" I finally asked, giving Shinnosuke a confused look. Though the crowd seemed to be enjoying the face off, my opponent was instead glaring at me, arms crossed as he tapped his foot.

"You are you idiot!" he snapped, thrusting a finger at me. "Hurry up and take off your coat! How are you supposed to look cool while wearing that baggy thing?"

"…Seriously?" I dead panned, giving him an incredulous look from beneath my hood. If he was trying to comment about my wearing loose clothes during a fight, then I could understand that. A lot of martial arts, Chinese ones in particular, tended to target loose clothes as a means of restricting an opponent, and my long sleeved coat was definitely thick enough to grip if an enemy tried. I could even understand if he was just worried about heat exhaustion setting in. In this sweltering arena I could definitely feel my body sweat, an unpleasant feeling only compounded by how long it had been since I had a bath. However….

"I'm not going to strip in front of an audience just to try and look cool," I told him, huffing as I did so. Shinnosuke's scowl got bigger as he growled at me.

"It's part of the romance of men!" he declared, stomping angrily. "How am I supposed to get in the mood for a fight if you aren't being dramatic!"

"It's stupid," I told him bluntly, though inside I paused, wondering.

Sakaki did tend to lose his own shirt whenever he got serious in combat, and there was that one time while I was fighting Boris and where I had stripped down. In my case, that had been because I didn't want the Yami member's combat Sambo to be able to latch onto my sleeves, but Sakaki didn't have that excuse. I had chalked it up to one of those crazy Master things, the whole 'inhuman ability meets fragile clothes', but Sakaki was old school enough that he might have just been doing it for the sake of drama…

Okay, I must be more exhausted then I thought if I was wondering what about the undressing habits of one of my male Masters.

"Stupid?" Shinnosuke yelped, and he scowled getting into his own stance finally. "I'll show you what happens to those who look down on the romance of men!"

There it was. It looked like he was finally getting serious about this fight. My eyes narrowed briefly as I took in his stance: body held perpendicular to mine, his back leg hidden behind his front, and with his near hand extended. That was the stance for his martial arts, Koppou. Koppou was an art which focused on using the center of gravity in specific movements, using the inertia of one's own weight to move. It was nearly the exact same as the last time we had fought.

He started by circling, a move which looked almost like he was sliding as he adjusted his weight. I held my ground in response, knowing what would come next. Once Shinnosuke was in range he yelled, striking fast with the palm of his hand in punches that were meant mostly to put me on my guard.

It really was almost exactly like the last time we had fought. Just like then, he quickly discovered the futility of his attacks. Shinnosuke is strong, no doubt about it. He trained hard to have a strong body, and his movements were quick and skilled. More than that, even back when he had been in Ragnarok, Shinnosuke always had a knack for fighting. He honestly enjoyed combat, and had probably been in more fights than I had, even now. That kind of experience was nothing to scoff at, and he knew all kinds of dirty tricks and methods for fighting.

However, what it came down to was I was just faster than he was.

It wasn't hard for me to dodge his blows, not even bothering to block them. Ducking and twisting I weaved through his offense as though he was standing still. Long training with my Masters had just accustomed my eyes to tracking ultra-fast movements. Compared to Apachai's mitt hitting this was nothing special. More than that, ever since I witnessed the fight between Sakaki and Hongou my perception abilities had increased even more. There was also the brutal training to my body in order to raise my physical capabilities and this fight was probably not even worth mentioning.

Add on my recently reawakened abilities as a Kai…

"Ha! You're as quick as I remember," Shinnosuke grinned, his battle joy showing as he laughed off his apparent disadvantage. "But I haven't been just sitting around either!"

I saw his kick coming before he launched his leg at me, but it was a close thing. Koppou's stance was designed to hide the back leg so it could be adjusted without the opponent seeing the movements. Once the back leg was in place, the front could be used without any apparent preparation making for an effective surprise attack. However, even as I dodged the low kick he threw at my knee, Shinnosuke was already moving, using the momentum of his strike to shift his body forward, prepping his next attack.

"Kougeki!" he shouted, and I had to toss myself aside to avoid the body slam that would have sent me flying. My eyes widened slightly as I realized that I recognized that attack.

"That wasn't Koppou!" I snapped, hopping backwards to get more space between me and my opponent. Shinnosuke grinned recklessly at me.

"You ain't the only one that can study multiple martial arts," he crowed at me, and with the same abandon as before he came back at me, doing his best to try and keep me off guard.

The audience was loving this. I don't know much about 'the romance of men' that Shaggy liked to go on about, but apparently it was something of a crowd pleaser. The jeers and shouts of the crowd watching us were starting to get louder, and more and more people were beginning to drift closer to watch. It looked like most of the audience seemed to be rooting for Shinnosuke, probably because he was the one who was on the offense, but I could make out some shouts of encouragement for me as well. My defense was dynamic with all my dodges, and since it looked like I was being pressed I probably had some fans hoping for the underdog victory.

Good. If I wasn't going to be able to slip by unnoticed, then I needed to get the biggest crowd possible.

I went on the offensive for the first time, and on Shinnosuke's next attack I blocked with my forearm, directing it up. With a large step I closed, and launched a side punch at his exposed side. The crowd ate it up as Shinnosuke gasped and was forced back by the blow. For a second I thought I might have over done it, but then he grinned, holding both his arms up as though to show the spot where he was hit to the crowd.

"That it, Kenichi?" he called. "You've been getting soft! That felt like a fly landed on me!"

I guess the romance of men really was a crowd pleaser, because the audience went wild as Shinnosuke got back in his combat stance and the fight resumed at the same pace. I didn't have the heart to tell him that if I hadn't held back I could have cracked at least three of his ribs with that punch.

The fight continued like that for nearly another three minutes, me seemingly on the defense until I launched a surprise counter, Shinnosuke letting loose bellows and shouts as he fought with abandon, and the crowd got ever larger as more and more people began to drop by to see what the fuss was about.

"What's this? It looks like ring B's fight is starting to get attention!" it was when the announcer came on over the loudspeaker that I decided it was time to end this.

When Shinnosuke came in for the next attack, a cross which was rather well hidden by the rest of his body which I countered again. This time, I didn't hold back as much, and the uppercut I threw buried itself into his gut and lifted him off the ground. His eyes widened as he gasped, spittle leaking out of his mouth and splashing against my coat. It should be enough to put him down, and while I still had the attention of the audience one of my hands dipped into the front of my coat, pulling out what I kept there in one quick motion. The crowd roared in anticipation as they thought I was pulling out a weapon to finish the fight, and they were mostly right. It just wasn't quite the weapon they thought it would be:

A bottle of water.

"And with his victory, the mysterious hooded fighter appears to be quenching his thirst between bouts!" the announcer broadcasted my actions, and it looked like the apparent distain I was treating my fallen foe with appealed to the blood thirsty masses as they jeered in approval.

While they might think I was just thirsty, I had another use for the bottle. With a light throw I tossed it into the air, and while it hung their midair I struck, kicking at it with all my might. The force of the attack was enough to rupture the plastic, and the bottle exploded appropriately, sending water flying through the air and misting across both me and the crowd.

"And look! The hooded challenger is telling the world that this fight wasn't even enough to work up a thirst!" the announcer proclaimed, and the crowd howled in joy almost as one.

Almost.

With a careful eye I searched the crowd, and right there in the center there was one watcher who didn't seem to be enjoying the impromptu shower. It was a man, dressed in leather pants and a mesh shirt. He looked just like any of a dozen of other fighters that I had seen making their way around the arenas.

Unlike the rest of the fighters though, when the water struck him he flinched, staring down in shock as his skin began to bubble and redden as though boiling water had struck him.

His eyes came up, staring at me in confusion, and then they widened in shock as they found mine locked onto him. Then his eyes narrowed as realization struck in.

It wasn't just shyness that had kept me from tossing my coat aside at the beginning of the match. What kind of vampire hunter goes out without getting all the necessary tools to hunt what is effectively a superior predator? Weapons like holy water for instance. And where else would a vampire hunter keep those weapons out of sight so to prevent awkward questions? Why, in a coat of course.

That or a duffel bag, I suppose. But then it would be harder to get to them in time.

And I was rambling again, even in my thoughts.

Gods I was tired.

It must have been the exhaustion which distracted me, because even as the vampire seemed to realize what had happened, I felt a palm rest almost gently against my cheeks.

"What's this?" the announcer shouted, sounding excited as I glanced behind me to find that Shinnosuke wasn't as down as I had thought he was. "It looks like the hooded fighter's distain was enough to rekindle the fighting spirit of the challenger!"

"Gotcha," Shinnosuke put it much more appropriately as he grinned, and I scowled in response, glaring at him.

"Oh, not aga-" was as far as I got before Shinnosuke pivoted, twisting his body and adjusting his center of gravity in some weird way as he shot his left hand out, twisting it as he struck. What he landed wasn't quite a punch, nor was it exactly a slap.

"Tooshi!" Shinnosuke howled, as he landed the exact same blow in nearly the exact same way as he had last time we had fought. The Koppou no Tooshi, the 'Passing Through Blow of the Art of Koppou' was one of the many Martial Arts techniques which was designed to take advantage of the bodies frailty by bypassing through the usual impediments of a strike and deliberately attacking a vital organ.

Many martial techniques used a variety of ways to specialize in order to circumvent defenses. Some attaches used vibrations in order to damage a body covered by armor so that a blow to a breastplate could damage the chest beneath, some used side to side motions in order to shake the muscles which were being struck and damage them exponentially more than a straight on attack would, and some focused on specialized hits which had an accumulative affect. The variation in striking techniques found in the world of Martial Arts was so great that I don't think that I could ever fully describe them, or even know them all.

The Toushi was one such attack. The strange twisting motion of the blow, combined with the wide striking area of the palm in effect caused the skull to vibrate when it landed. The human brain is an unsurprisingly delicate organ, and vibrations like that can have a reboot effect, causing the brain to temporarily shut down and then restart almost immediately afterwards. This affect was what led rise to the 'glass chin' saying. No matter how tough someone is, if a blow lands just right on the chin than the skull would rattle and the person who took the punch would lose the ability to control their body as the brain tried to deal with the strange stimuli.

I could almost feel the way Shinnosuke's strike impacted with my cheekbone, the way the force dispersed and penetrated through the organ beneath my skull. I could make out the way the edges of my vision began to darken, the way I started to lose all feeling in my extremities as consciousness started to slip away…

And then the effect stopped and reversed itself, leaving me once more in complete control of my body as my consciousness reasserted before I had even fallen halfway to the ground.

It was about then that I decided that if a vampire and martial artist were to fight, it would probably be the vampire which would win. One of the most noticeable of powers a vampire had was their regeneration, after all. No matter what part of the body that a vampire might get hurt in, they would almost certainly recover, most often just in a matter of seconds. If a vampire's limbs were to be ripped off, they would simple regrow. If their heart was to be ripped from their chest, they would just shrug as the most a wound like that could do would be to cause the blood in their body temporarily stopped moving. Even the brain, the organ which meant near certain loss when damaged in a human was nothing more than an inconvenience for a vampire.

In fact, most vampires tended to deliberately harm their brain whenever they wanted to remember something. The vampire who had turned me, Kiss Shot Acerola Orion Hearts Under Blade had been fond of open skull lobotomies as a way to recall various bits of trivia.

I was still only a partial vampire, that weird unnatural state of lingering symptoms I had found myself in after the events of my introduction to the world of the Kai had ended, but for me in particular regeneration had always come easy. When I had been a vampire fully I had been able to survive being carved into hundreds of pieces. That regeneration had lingered when I had become mostly human, the last remnant of my strongest vampire trait. It had faded after the events which I had thought marked my full escape from the Nightworld, and I had thought that ability was completely lost before the meddling of a fox proved me wrong.

"Man," I heard Shinnosuke sigh, his voice unusually soft as he failed to notice me stopping my fall to the ground. From the corner of my eye I saw him lifting up his hands as though to celebrate his victory, the crowd around the two of us cheering at the turnabout from earlier. Even as he continued to pose for the crowd, I could hear him mutter. "I thought I was gonna lose for sure. Niijima better be damn thankful that I risked my title for this."

My blood ran cold at his soft words.

"What did you say?" I snapped, and Shinnosuke literally jumped as he whirled to face me, the realization that he hadn't just won, that apparently I shrugged off his best attack in a matter of seconds, and that more importantly I sounded pretty damn pissed causing him to give a small girlish yelp as he gaped at me.

"How the hell are you still standing?" he demanded, pointing at me in accusation. "Are you cheating or something?"

"Answer me," I snapped at him, my eyes narrowed as my mind raced. "What the hell did you mean about Niijima?"

"That weird alien has all of that gang of yours out looking for you," he admitted, the shock he was feeling at me having survived his attack unharmed probably causing him to answer when he really shouldn't. "There's a hell of a reward for information about you out there too." He grinned, as my features went white. "When I called him earlier, he put in a bonus to keep you distracted as well."

"Shaggy," I growled at him, not able to properly put into words just how furious that particular information was making me, or able to describe the enormous lump that had settled in my stomach. "You idiot!"

Why hadn't I noticed earlier? I berated myself furiously in my head. You idiot, Kenichi! He had said he was never going to have a rematch with you again just so he could keep the title! You hadn't heard from Shinnosuke in so long you had actually forgotten his name! And then he comes up out of nowhere and challenges you to a fight? What else could he possibly be doing! I should have just focused on…

The vampire!

I whirled away from the other boy, and I just managed to make out the vampire as he pulled free from the back of the crowd. The beast looked over his shoulder at me, and seemed to realize that I hadn't remained distracted long enough for him to completely escape. Still, he smiled at me once, bearing just a hint of his fangs as he turned, and with inhuman speed began to force his way past the scattered groups of people that were between him and the nearest exit.

God damnit!

I started to give chase, but was stopped when Shinnosuke's hand came down on my shoulder, gripping tightly.

"Oi!" Shinnosuke snapped, sounding entirely too smug for someone who quite possibly ruined everything I was planning. "Where do you think…?"

It was as far as he got before I backhanded him, not even turning to look. The blow came without warning, and I felt it connect as Shinnosuke let loose a grunt, and I heard him fall to the ground behind me as I raced to the edge of the ring.

"And what's this?" the announcer proclaimed, and the crowd continued to roar its approval. "Turn around after turn around between the two fighters! Will the challenger manage to get up anew, or has the hooded fighter managed to finally secure his victory- What's this? The hooded fighter is leaving the arena...!"

I ignored the announcer, though if I had stuck around I probably would be announced the winner at this point. I had put way more into that strike than I had into any of the other blows I had thrown at him when I had been playing for the crowd. And even if he did get back up, I had more important things to worry about.

I did feel kind of bad to have beaten him so casually, I'd admit, but he had struck me from behind, twice now, and he had effectively let loose the hounds on me, so I left him where he fell and threw myself into the pursuit.

The crowd around the arena was packed, but I had a convenient skill for making my way through it. I think one of the most useful things I'd ever learned from Ryouzanpaku was utilizing blind spots while in full sprint to avoid crashing into bystanders. I cleared the densest area in a matter of seconds, my eyes frantically tracking for where my prey had escaped to. It seemed that the vampire wasn't quite as good as moving through crowds so easily, and had only just reached the exit that would take him out of the fight club. Behind him there was a trail of angry and shouting people who he had tossed aside when they had gotten in his way.

The vampire paused at the door, his eyes finding mine again and they narrowed when he realized that I was covering the distance between the two of us faster than he could increase it. With a snarl like grimace he showed me his teeth, the slight elongation of his canines only barely visible, and then he kicked the door savagely, knocking it off its hinges before he darted out into the night.

Damn. Damn, damn, and double damn.

"And what's this?" the announcer howled behind me as I continued the chase. "It seems that the hooded challenger has abandoned the ring in order to seek his next match! What possible grudge could these two enemies have…"

I tuned the loudspeaker out, even as I grimaced. Not only had I been discovered by someone with ties to my friends, but they had also alerted Niijima of all people about my location! I hadn't even considered the meeting odd, and the idea that Shinnosuke might be in contact with my friends hadn't even crossed my mind. Not only that, but the vampire was alert to my presence now, and wouldn't go down as easily as the others had. And if that wasn't bad enough, now I had potential witnesses where members of the crowd who had watched my fight with Shaggy appeared to be detaching themselves so that they could follow me.

I did not want a bunch of muscle bound fight addicts to be a witness to a battle with a vampire.

I didn't want any witnesses at all, for god's sake.

I cleared the arena into the night in moments, my head frantically turning left and right as I tried to figure out which direction the vampire had gone in. There, on my right, I managed to make out a brief flicker of movement and caught sight of the vampire for only a second as the creature leapt over a wall which blocked off the end of the alley I had emerged into. At least, I hoped it was the vampire, and I took off after it fast, desperate to catch up with it. The wall was at least a dozen feet high, and it would have taken precious seconds for a normal human to get over it normally.

Luckily, even without my reemerging vampire powers my martial arts skills would have been enough for me to circumvent this. My first leap was dozens of feet before the wall began. It took me high, seemingly impossibly higher than a normal human should be able to make. It wasn't high enough for me to clear the wall on its own, but it did put my feet in reaching distance of the ledge on the wall nearby. The second leap also left me a few feet shy of clearance, but I had my arms up to force me the rest of the way over the wall.

It was while I was in midair, already over the wall and with no purchase to move, that I realized my mistake.

The vampire grinned at me again, a vicious leer as it waited for me at the bottom of my drop. Even as I began my descent it crouched, and then threw himself upwards at me, one of his hands drawn back, his fingers curled as though they were claws as he prepared a counter attack.

I hadn't even considered that the vampire would launch a counter attack this soon. When it had first noticed my holy water, it seemed to have panicked, and I thought that it was primarily in flight mode at this point. Vampires are powerful creatures, but they pay for that power with a large number of weaknesses too. Most vampires knew that if they were being hunted there was a good chance that their hunters would be prepared for them.

I had thought the vampire would just continue to flee, most likely prioritizing escape over confrontation. I definitely hadn't thought that the vampire would choose to confront me so soon, not so close to an arena that was packed with strong and potentially dangerous fighters.

Either this vampire was very confident in its ability, or it was very stupid. I'm not sure which the worst prospect was. If it really was as powerful as it seemed to think it was, then I could be in a lot of trouble. Vampires had a great deal of variety in the skill sets they could develop over the years, and if this one had managed to master a good number of those esoteric abilities than I might have gotten in over my head with this target.

And if the vampire was stupid, that was every bit as potentially upsetting. Stupid opponents couldn't be counted on doing the logical thing, the smart thing. Stupid opponents were potentially unpredictable, and dangerous in ways that smart opponents sometimes couldn't quite match.

Still, that wouldn't help me right now. As it stood, I was still midair and falling down towards a prepared vampire which was likely about to try and tear my head off.

Whatever the case with this vampire, it seemed that I would find out very quickly just which it was. It had chosen the place and arena for this fight, in this alley and midair, and with that choice in front of me this wouldn't be a drawn out battle. The first move would be the one that decides the battle.

The vampire struck with bare hands, counting on the pure rending power of a vampire's strength and regeneration to see him through this exchange.

On the other hand, between one breath and another my hand were no longer empty. This wasn't the kind of battle for me to stake my pride one, for me to show the skills my Masters had given me. This wasn't even a fight.

This was an exorcism.

The kusarigami that I had started training with not so long ago felt warm in my hand, a result of the heat trapped by my coat soaking into it. The chain was thin, but unexpectedly strong despite its size, no doubt a sign of the quality which Shigure sought after in all her weapons, even the ones she was giving to a no good Disciple.

But what made this weapon the perfect choice for the fight was the fact that I had removed the sickle from the end and replaced it with something else entirely.

"Kousaka Ryuu! Hien Sandan Giri!" I shouted, the modified weapon slicing through the air in one of the few techniques I had managed to learn from Shigure after I had finally accepted her tutelage. Just like with my other Masters, Shigure had refrained from teaching me too much in the way of special techniques or esoteric attacks. Instead, she had focused on driving the basics of wielding such an unruly weapon into my body. This had been the only technique she had truly taught me, though she had seemed unusually amused when it had taken me nearly a month to get it right.

Something about how even a child could learn it in a week, though I never got the full story out of her.

The vampire didn't feel a need to name its attack at all, not even deigning to shout during its assault. It didn't even have time to fully take in the modification I had made to my weapon before our blows exchanged.

His fingers caught my cheek, digging in deep and scraping across my cheekbone in an agonizing motion. He very nearly took my eye, and if I had been a second slower than my entire skull might have ended up like the frayed edge of my hood as it too was ripped cleanly along the side.

On the other hand my attack, the 'Flying Blaze Three Step Cut' cleanly separated its arms, and one of its legs from its body, the limbs tumbling away midair in a spray of blood.

The two of us landed, both with a thump though I managed to retain my balance enough for me to only go to one knee, my teeth aching at the force I was clamping my teeth shut with to keep the cry of pain within. The vampire just fell; it's rendered torso and remaining limb not enough to allow it any dignity.

Despite my injuries, I forced my teeth to clamp even harder, a brief worry about whether I might end up chipping them with the force, before I pressed my tired body to move. There wasn't time to just sit here, feeling dramatic. I still hadn't finished the fight, and with the ever increasing possibility of interruption I would still have to somehow manage to escape with my prize as well!

Whirling, I readied my weapon, using my free hand to claw at the ground for purchase as I spun myself towards the vampire who was actually bouncing across the ground as its one leg continued to flail. I could make out its expression of shock as it realized that its limbs weren't returning to it, that the regeneration power that it had been gambling on had been interrupted. It was then that it finally made out just what I was wielding, and its shock rose even further.

I didn't blame it. It had taken me a very long time to track down an actual cross made out of blessed silver. It had been even harder to sharpen the shorter of the intersecting bars to razor like sharpness as well, and it was already beginning to chip in places from where the combat I had put it through proved once more that silver made for a horrible base metal for a weapon in normal circumstances.

Against a vampire however, or even a number of other Kai, well, there was no other way to go but silver.

Two of its limbs, its other leg and its right arm, hadn't even hit the ground by the time I had closed, the sharpened cross flashing as I aimed at the thing's thigh. It tried to dodge, but with no purchase or balance it could only watch helpless as I completely rendered it into a quadriplegic lump, nothing but a torso and a head as its limbs fell to the ground around it. Though the initial spray of blood from the wounds was quite fantastic the flow on it's the limbs I severed earlier was already beginning to slacken as the silver acted almost like a cauterizing agent to the undead creature.

I was thankful for that. I didn't want too much of that blood flowing out of its body for a number of reasons.

The battle ended only moments after it had started, the creature rolling to a stop as it lay helpless before me, my improvised sickle glistening with its blood and moonlight. The thing only then realized that confronting a prepared hunter, one who had already shown he had martial prowess at that, was not the best course of action. It was most certainly the last mistake it would ever make. I could make out despair beginning to taint its expression before its eyes widened again in surprise.

Judging from where they were directed, it seemed that the thing had caught sight of my cheek, already half way healed from the blow it had managed to land. It was the vampire's turn to tighten its jaw as it realized that not only was I a hunter, but also something which wasn't quite human myself.

Finally, it let loose a resigned breath, and the creature went still, its eyes drifting shut. I wasn't certain if it was a sign of surrender, or if the vampire was planning something, but whatever the case, I would take what I could get. If the thing started to get loud, or continued to struggle, it might make my escape even more difficult than it probably already was going to be.

I didn't have much time, now, that much I was certain of. I would have to abandon the limbs and just take the body with me. It was the largest piece, and I would just have to make do with what I could get from this whole mess. Keeping the cross in my hand in case the vampire was indeed planning something, I reached out with my other hand to grab the thing by the throat, tightening my grip both to keep it from struggling and to make sure I didn't drop it. If it had been wearing something less flimsy then a mesh shirt, I would have gone for its collar instead for better purchase.

However, before I could get a proper hold and flee, a voice shouted out from behind me, causing me to freeze.

"Holy shit! Kenichi, is that you?"

No.

"That's impossible!" another voice shouted, and though it sounded angry it had an edge to it, something which wasn't quite hysteria and not quite denial, but pretty close to both. "There's no way that's Kenichi! He'd never do something like this."

No. No, no, no.

"We never thought that Miu would ever go through something like she did either," yet another voice cut in, and where the other two had been laced with disbelief and outrage at the scene they had come across, this one spoke with a cold touch of logic in it. "If even someone like her could almost end up like that, then even Kenichi could be gotten to."

I hadn't gotten away in time. Slowly, with one hand around a monster's neck and a bloody cross in the other, I straightened. Without fully turning, I glanced behind me.

It had been a while since I had seen Takeda, Ukita, and Niijima, since before that day I had sought out a fox. The three looked well. That was the first thing I could think when I took in the sight of them from the corner of my eye.

Takeda the Striker, the boxing Captain of the Shinpaku Alliance had a strand of grass tucked into his mouth like always, and judging from his outfit it looked like he had just been called away from training with his own Master, James Shiba. He still had on that ridiculous spring based resistance harness that he wore in all but the most dire of battles, and the shirt he had apparently thrown on over it hadn't even been buttoned. Beyond that, he looked tense, his jaw clenched so hard that the grass held in it was shaking as he stared with shock at me.

Ukita the Throw, a former judo using delinquent and another Captain of the alliance was in his usual button down and slacks, the only outfit besides a judo uniform that I had ever seen him wear. It was he who had denied that the person in front of him was really me, and even now he was shaking in rage and denial.

Niijima, who didn't have a convenient title besides 'Alien', the Commander of the alliance was wearing his normal school uniform with collar loosened just enough to make it seem casual. The pointy eared mastermind of so many evil schemes which seemed to serve no other purpose besides annoying me was looking on with narrowed eyes, showing none of the disbelief or anger that the two he had arrived with were showing. Instead, he had the look of someone who was simply taking in all that there was to see, and using that information to draw the most logical conclusion.

"Wait, what are you saying, you alien?" Ukita demanded, growling as the larger boy turned to glare at Niijima. Those two never really got along that well. They were friends, I was fairly certain of that much, but Niijima was always the type that liked to antagonize those around him in the most absurd of ways, and Ukita was always the type who just let antagonism get to him too easily.

"You don't mean…" Takeda also turned to spare the smallest of the three a quick look, though it seemed the boxer had managed to divulge whatever it was that Niijima had been hinting at with his earlier cryptic statement. Whatever he thought it seemed that it was enough to bring the hesitating fighter some sort of relief as his jaw loosened slightly.

"We knew that Kenichi had disappeared," Niijima continued, though unlike the other two he never took his eyes off of me. The normally somewhat Machiavellian leader of a ragtag band of former delinquents and aspiring martial artists was unusually serious as he continued to study me and the scene he had stumbled on. "It was unlikely that he would leave on his own, so he must have been taken. It's been nearly a month since then. There's no telling what's been done to our friend."

"Oh!" Ukita's eyes widened enough for me to see his eybrows from behind the sunglasses he always seemed to be wearing, even at night. "So then Kenichi…!"

"It looks like we might need to have a bit of a fight before we can have that peaceful reunion we've been hoping for, and those answers too," Niijima finished off for the judo user, and despite the ominous words the little alien began to grin.

Maybe it was the exhaustion showing, but it actually took me a second to figure out just what my bad friend had been spelling out for me.

When I did, I nearly sagged in relief.

This might actually work out. I might actually be able to get away!

The last time anyone in our circle of friends had vanished, it had been when Miu had been abducted by Junazard, after all. The end results of that particular encounter had been her being drugged to the point of amnesia and then led to nearly walking the path of the Satsujin Ken. It wouldn't be too much of a jump in logic to assume that my own disappearance might have a similar tale behind it.

In other words, the three thought I was brainwashed.

So far I had remained silent, mostly because I had been so shocked at the three's appearance that I had no idea what to say. Now though I bit my lip and kept quiet so that I wouldn't accidently say anything which might make them doubt their new conclusion.

"So, in other words, it looks like Kenichi and I are going to get another rematch after all," Takeda declared, and despite the situation the boxer actually sounded pleased at the thought. Despite the lingering tension in his jaw he started to grin a bit. The two of us had fought two times in the past, and unlike Shinnosuke, Takeda hadn't managed to eke out a win on me yet.

I guess it said something about his spirit as a martial artists, but even though I was bloodstained and clutching a mutilated body, even though they thought I had probably been brainwashed into doing something which was detestable and wrong, the promise of having a third match seemed to ignite Takeda's competitive spirit.

"Careful," Niijima cautioned, his voice still calm and analytical. "If what's been done to him is anything like what happened to Miu, then this isn't a fight to play around in." He glanced at Ukita, and while the judo user didn't seem quite as excited over the chance to fight me as his friend was, even he seemed to be bracing himself for battle as well. "Both of you should fight together."

"Eh?" Ukita seemed flustered by the order, reaching up to point at himself in surprise. "Me too? But shouldn't a fight be one on one?"

"The longer this goes on, the worse it can get," Niijima snapped, a bit of his cool disappearing as something unfamiliar seeped into his voice. If I wasn't too tired to bother expressing it, I might have shown a little shock as I realized that the heartless alien was actually worried about me! "The quicker he goes down, the quicker we can get him some help!"

"Quick, eh?" Takeda's grin widened as Ukita scowled. It looked like while the larger boy was agreeing to something he didn't like, the boxer on the other hand was amused by something that Niijima had said. "That's the best way to do it!"

That was the only warning I got before Takeda shifted his stance slightly, and then launched himself at me, his resurrected left fist already cocked as he prepared to try and put me down. I suppose it was a sign of exhaustion yet again that it wasn't until that moment that I realized that I should have tried to sneak off while the three were arguing.

Heck, even though they had just been arguing about how to fight me, I hadn't even managed to move into a proper combat stance yet. I still had the cross in one hand and the vampire in the other. Takeda was fast, had always been fast. He was one of the other members of the Shinpaku Alliance that was receiving tutelage from a genuine Master class fighter, and unlike me Takeda had always had a natural talent for fighting as well. I barely had time to think before he was on me in striking range.

"Auto Rhythm!" Takeda's grin was fierce as he jumped into the fight with one of his fiercest attacks. I grimaced as his fist came at me, the power beyond it something I was well acquainted with.

After all, the sneaky boxer had stolen that move from me.

A derivative of my own 'Mubyoshi', the 'No Beat' skill that I had invented by combining Karate, Kempo, Jujitsu, and Muay Thai, it was an attack which combined multiple principles of martial arts including counter movement, penetration power, and the movement of the body in order to launch a devastatingly powerful blow. While not as powerful as my Mubyoshi, the Auto Rhythm made up for the loss of power by focusing all those traits on the upper body, making the attack faster, easier to launch, and simpler to use repeatedly.

It was an overwhelming opening move from the boxer, and the only thing I could think to do was to block it with the thing in my hands. Not my cross, no. The silver wasn't durable enough to survive that kind of power, and I didn't want the sharpened edges to damage my friend. With what was in my other hand.

Takeda's eyes widened as he found his blow interrupted by the torso of the vampire, and from the lack of power I could tell that the boxer had pulled his blow short, no doubt hoping to avoid hurting what appeared to him to be nothing more than an innocent victim. The force of the strike diverted, and with the sudden change in his momentum, Takeda lowered his guard.

I took advantage of the opening. My hands were too full for me to punch, but I still had my legs. It might be an old trick, but even if Takeda had come a long way since our first fight, he was still a boxer, and the primary weakness of a boxer was always their lower body.

I launched a low kick at the off balanced fighter. Takeda wasn't the only one who was off balance, with the weight of the wounded vampire tugging at me, so it wasn't the most powerful kick I had ever thrown. More than that, Takeda himself was well aware of the weakness of his style. He was being trained by a Master after all. Even if he couldn't defend against it perfectly, he still managed to shift his stance enough for the hard edge of his shin to meet mine. Both of us had undergone the typical body hardening that most martial artists endured, so the blow wasn't as painful to either of us as it could have been.

But even if Takeda was ready and managed to keep the attack from being a serious one, it was still an attack at his weak point, and now, more than ever, I was simply stronger than the other fighter. My Masters had long ago confessed that my lower body was the area they had focused on the most during my initial training, so my kicking power was probably my strongest area. Add into that the traits that my lingering symptoms of vampirism granted me, and the advantage went to me in that exchange

"Damn," Takeda grit out, and despite his fierce opening he hopped back, favoring his leg as he did so. Gingerly, he put weight on it, and then settled himself, the injury not enough to take him out of commission. His grin turned whimsical. "Well, so much for taking advantage of Kenichi being a slow starter."

Ah, so that was why he had attacked so hard so fast. It was no secret among my friends that it often took me a bit of time to really work myself up to my highest potential. Even if I was strong, I was still a person who didn't like fighting that much, most of the time. It was something that Yami had tried to take advantage of in the past, truthfully, and considered one of my biggest weakness.

It was actually because of that weakness that I was so tired.

The Elder had long ago showed me how to counter that negative trait. If I needed time to warm up to a fight, than just do it before the fight begins. He had kept me sparring for nearly eighteen hours before my duel with Ethan Stanley in order to make sure that I wouldn't be overwhelmed in the battle, a trick that even Chikage admitted that she had found ridiculous.

As much as I might have protested at the time, I had taken that training to heart. Especially considering what I was doing these days. Vampires were strong, and fast, and among the most dangerous of the Kai for a human to come across. I needed every trick in my book to make sure that I wouldn't end up falling victim to the creatures I was hunting. However, it looked like I might have taken the trick to far.

It was no good to be heated up for battle only to be too tired to do anything but gawk in confusion once the fight started.

"Good opening, Takeda," Ukita bellowed, and the judo user seemed to be preparing himself as well to enter the fight. He had his hands up and prepared to grab, an essential for any judo user, and he had already shifted forward so he could take advantage of his weight and size in a bull charge. It wasn't the most elegant of stances, but Ukita was probably the most normal and weakest of the fighters on the Shinpaku Alliance.

"Next time don't hold back because of the victim," Niijima snapped, already having analyzed my ploy. "If we're going to get him any help, then we need to win fast. And if winning means he has a few cracked ribs, he can still thank us for saving him afterwards!" Just like that Niijima showed why he was the leader of Shinpaku, already prioritizing just what sacrifices needed to be made in order for victory to be obtained.

If it had been a normal person that he had been advocating attacking through, I probably would have been outraged by his callousness. However, considering that he was just telling my friends to hit a vampire harder, well, I decided not to sweat it this time.

"Attack together this time," Niijima ordered, and Ukita paused in his preparations to glower at the smaller boy at his presumptuous tone. "Takeda, take the lead! Ukita, circle around and attack from the back!"

"Shut up, you evil alien," Ukita grumbled, but even as he verbally rebelled against the directions the judo user began to edge around, circling me wide as he moved to obey. Even if Niijima was a hard guy to deal with it didn't change the fact that just about everyone in the alliance had acknowledged that he was probably the smartest of us all and had a genius for tactics that was hard to argue against.

"Heh," Takeda grunted, starting to bounce on the soles of his feet as he prepared himself. "Ready for round two, Kenichi?"

No. No I was not.

I wasn't here to fight the three of them, well, fight Ukita and Takeda while Niijima supervised and then took all the credit anyway. I had already gotten what I wanted from this place, and lingering here any longer just made things more dangerous. The longer I was here, the more chances there were of people I wanted to see even less arriving. So instead of responding to the boxer's provocation, I instead turned and ran.

"Oi!" was as far as a startled Takeda got before I was already implementing my escape plan. The same wall that had originally set me up for the vampire's failed counter attack would serve me well here. I had no doubt that Takeda and Ukita would be able to get over it, Niijima too though it would probably take him longer, but it would buy me time, time to get out of here to escape and lose these three in the streets and back alleys that I had become more and more familiar with since I started wandering them.

It had taken me two jumps to clear the wall with a running start and unladened, but it only would take an extra one to get me back over it. Utilizing that same insane lower body strength that had driven Takeda back only moments ago, I bent at the knees and launched myself, aiming for another convenient ledge for my next purchase. Behind me I heard Takeda shout again.

"Oi! He's running away!" There was a bit of surprise in his tone, as though the action was so unexpected that he couldn't hold back his reaction.

"Don't worry," Niijima assured the boxer, a note of gloating in his tone as I made it to the second ledge. "Did you really think I wouldn't plan for that?"

Plan for that? His words had an ominous edge to them. Niijima with time to plan was nothing to scoff at. I could only hope that I would be able to put enough distance between us before his plan caught up to me…

Was what I was thinking before I made my third jump, the one which would have put me over the wall, and I discovered that his plan was already in motion.

"Mike Yopu Chagi!" Nanjou Kisara shouted, and once more I barely managed to react as the former Eighth Fist of Ragnarok, and more recent Captain in the Shinpaku Alliance appeared before me from behind the wall, already midair herself as she threw powerful spinning back kick that would have probably crushed a rib if it had landed.

In fact, I'm pretty sure it did crush the rib of the vampire that I had managed to get up in time as a shield again. The beast remained still, once more showing no reaction to the damage it had received even as its regeneration kicked in to heal the unblessed wound. But though I had managed to block that one strike, there was another one already coming at me.

"Kugataichi Ryuu Gokui: Sen Un!" This time the attacker was Kugatachi Kaname, though it was hard to think of her as anything other than Freya, another of the Eight Fists of Ragnarok that had been swayed by Niijima's devilish tongue to the forces of Shinpaku. It seemed like she too had been lying in wait with her former subordinate, Kisara, in order to cut off any retreat.

The 'Sen Un', the 'Shining Cloud' was a move from the Kugataichi school of Jou-jutsu, staff techniques, that was meant to strike the area around the base of the neck at the collarbone. If a blow like that landed it could just as easily rattle the skull as it could crush the collarbone. Either result was the equivalent of a one hit knock out for all but the toughest of fighters.

No good, no good! I didn't have time to dodge this one, and this time my convenient shield was too heavy to move! Why did it have to be weapons? It was always weapons!

With no other choice, I released my grip on both the dismembered vampire and my cross, whipping my hands backwards to toss them behind me. With the same movement I brought both arms back up, crossing them in front of my face. The force of the swing was enough for me to free the second part of my weapon, the chain trailing out of my coat sleeve and after the cross as it was freed from its resting place. With my arms crossed I gripped the cold steel links, pulling the length I held in front of me taught as I used it to intercept the staff strike.

It wasn't enough to stop the blow, not completely. In the air like this, I just had no purchase with which to resist the power of the strike. But even as the staff strike plowed through my chain, it was enough for me to defend myself. The force propelled me backwards, the chain yielding slightly as it did so. It was thanks to Ryouzanpaku's constant emphasis on basics that I almost unconsciously uncrossed my arms when it did so, the movement causing the chain to encircle the very tip of the weapon, a move meant to trap it.

It was also due to my relative inexperience with the weapon that I wasn't able to do much after that. My escape attempt had already been halted, and the two attacks had caused my momentum to reverse. Even as I was being forced back, Freya showed just who was the superior weapon user, twisting her body midair by somehow using the purchase her staff had given her to drive her foot at my chest. I wasn't able to stop this attack, and just like the vampire had before I found myself slamming into the hard concrete moments later, bouncing once myself before I managed to regain my footing.

"Oh!" Ukita cheered, raising a clenched fist in victory. "Great job, Kisara, Freya!"

"Tsch," Kisara clucked her tongue at the enthusiastic praise the judo user was giving her, but despite the dismissive nature of the sound the Tae Kwon Do user seemed pleased at the attention from her former subordinate. "Focus on the fight, idiot!" Even though she seemed happy with Ukita, it only lasted for a second before her eyes tracked back to me and her expression darkened. "Damn, kiddo," she muttered one hand coming up so she could bite her thumb, a trait I'd seen her use before when she was upset. "What the hell did they do to you?"

"Focus, Kisara," Freya chided, landing as well with her staff ready. The dusky skinned woman was always the type to remain calm in the face of battle, but even her eyes seemed narrowed as she took in the sight of me. "We can get answers out of him after he's been taking care of. For now, we just have to set our sights on the goal ahead of us."

"But are we even sure it's him, Freya-neechan?" Kisara demanded, the thumb she had been biting coming up to straighten that little beanie she seemed to favor. "I can barely make out his face under the hood, and there's no way that the kiddo would ever do something like that to anyone else!" Kisara nodded with a grimace at where the vampire had landed, taking in the grisly sight with narrowed eyes. "And he's even using a weapon! That's not like the kiddo at all!"

"Oh, but it's him alright," Niijima cackled madly from the other side of the alley. The alien pointed a finger at me triumphantly, his evil laughter getting louder. "Just look! He's already trying to avoid fighting you girls!"

Damnit. I hadn't even noticed the instinctual response of mine to back away from female fighters. As a man who had sworn to never lay a hand on a woman, those two were the worst possible opponents for me to face. Both Kisara and Freya were strong, possibly strong enough to beat me even if I were to fight them all out. Combined with my refusal to fight back against them, it would be better to face down Ukita and Takeda then go against those two!

"Heh," Kisara grunted, and despite her earlier expression a sly smile began to form. "Now that is just like the kiddo!"

This situation just getting worse and worse! Now not only had the number of my friends who had shown up increased from three to five, but both ends of the alley were blocked and the damn vampire had ended up falling closer to Niijima, Ukita, and Takeda than it had to me! Even if I wanted to just abandon the creature and flee, that would be leaving a cornered beast alone with five unsuspecting humans!

Could this situation get any worse!

"Lalalalala!" was the only warning I got before I realized that even thinking those words was enough to evoke the malicious gods of irony. "Prepare yourself, Kenichi-san, for my surprise attack!"

I don't know what it was that prompted me to leap away from where I had been crouching, but whatever instinct that had prompted it proved correct, as a second later a falling body plummeted through the air to land directly where I had been standing only moments ago. The body landed hard, with a thump loud enough to make me cringe, and then it proceeded to lay there, unmoving.

Many times in the past I had seen this new addition to the melee use these exact same tactics. Every time, I had to wonder just what was it that made the person he was fighting think it was a good idea to walk closer to a fallen body and touch it. This time though, I blearily realized just why they always engaged in such morbid curiosity. Even now, knowing exactly who this was and what he was planning, I still felt the urge to prod the body with my foot to see if maybe this time he really was as dead as he was acting.

"Siegfried, a surprise attack is no good if you give a warning!" Niijima groaned, palming his face as he did so.

"My apologies, my Demon Lord!" the body in front of me declared in a sing song tone, his voice muffled from where he was still lying face first on the concrete. "When I witnessed the return of Kenichi-san, I just grew so aroused that I could not stop myself from singing! Lalalalala!"

Kugenin Hibiki, also known as Siegfried the Immortal Composer, a fighter who specialized strictly in counters had always been a bit of an odd one. Frequently bursting into song, going on about the 'Melody of Friendship', and referring to Niijima with the title of 'Demon Lord' were just a few examples of how strange the older martial artist could be at times.

He was also considered one of the strongest of the Shinpaku Captains, and in the past my own Masters had acknowledged his potential to one day join them in that rank.

And anything else that might have gone through my mind at the newest arrival was cast aside as two meaty arms, each one the size of one of my legs, wrapped around me from behind.

"That's how you do a surprise attack!" Niijima's cackling returned, this time with the alien raising both arms to the side as he began to pose with a distinctly Machiavellian air. "Kekekekeke!"

"Dosukoi!" the one who captured me shouted, using the old sumo term in triumph as his grip tightened around me. It wasn't really an attack name like the others had been shouting, more of a traditional term used in sumo that was based off an old regional saying which loosely translates into something along the lines of 'Where'ya headin'?'.

And maybe it was another lingering symptom of my sleep deprivation that I chose to focus on that particular anomaly rather than on getting myself out of the grips of Yuuma Chikai, most commonly called Thor, a former Ragnarok Fist and current Shinpaku captain. Thor was easily three times my weight, even with the extra pounds that the Crab of Burden had blessed me with, and was so huge that he beat me half again on height and nearly four times as much in girth. As he was so fond of saying, that massive amount of meat acted as an armor of muscle and fat. It did more than that as well, and even as I started to try and struggle Thor took one step and then launched himself into the air, going horizontal with me between him and the ground.

"For all the chubby young men in the world!" I made out Thor's favorite battle cry right before his arms released me and I slammed into the ground, Thor's incredible weight pressing me face first into the cement so hard that I felt the air get knocked out of me and my nose get crushed by the asphalt. "Bear with it for now, Kenichi!" I could still make out his voice mostly due to me being pressed directly against his chest, not because they could reach my ears. "I'll apologize after we get you help! We can have sumo hot pot together!"

I could feel myself getting crushed as Thor's massive weight pinned me to the ground. I couldn't breathe, couldn't move, couldn't do anything but lay there, trying to gasp but not able to force my lungs to expand fully. This must have been Niijima's doing! Trapped here like this there was nothing I could do, and it was only a matter of time before either I passed out or was rendered weak enough to be restrained! If that happened then everything would have been for nothing! I had to get escape, to get out from under my prison of meat, collect my prize, and then run, or at the current rate it seemed like everyone I had ever met would end up showing up tonight!

So with a growl of frustration over these increasing delays, the first noise audible noise I had made since I had been interrupted retrieving the vampire, I began to do just that.

"Oi!" Thor's voice rumbled over me as I began to shift, pushing up at him. "O-oi! That's not possible! He's getting free!" I heard something else, a muffled voice that I think was Niijima shouting something, and then the weight on top of me increased drastically, nearly pushing me back down to the cement. "Hey! Don't just stand on top of me like that!" Thor bellowed, sounding outraged as presumably one or more of the other members of the Shinpaku alliance began to lend their weight to the struggle.

It shouldn't be possible for me to move Thor, not like this. True, when we had first fought I had managed to lift the enormous sumo wrestler and toss him out of the ring, but that had been different: we had both been standing, and I had been able to use my already developing lower body to help fuel that toss, as well as the edge of the sunken ring as leverage. There had also been that time when Boris had pinned me completely and I had lifted both of us off the ground using just one arm, but that had been different too: Boris had weighed nowhere near as much as Thor did, and even if I hadn't been able to attack from that position I had still had some mobility in my limbs.

Right now I was completely covered by Thor's body, even my arms and legs. I didn't have any leverage to move them, nothing to help adjust either my weight or the weight of the body holding me down.

Despite that, I was still forcing myself off the concrete, inch by painstaking inch.

Once, I had been a vampire. Honestly, back then, I had been a rather crappy vampire. I had been informed that it was rather typical for a human who had become the undead to undergo massive psychological changes, ranging from a berserker state to simply enhanced bloodlust. When I had been changed, I hadn't been affected at all by any of those mental transformations. That was what had made me such a bad vampire.

For a human who had turned into a vampire, their power was based on how monstrous they had become. Using abilities which were inhuman required someone to think like they were inhuman, to act inhuman.

In order to be a monster, all you really had to do was act like a monster. If you did it long enough, eventually it stopped being an act.

There was another reason I hadn't slept in so long that I couldn't recall when it had been. It was the also part of the reason I hadn't bathed or changed my clothes in nearly that long as well. I had just dismembered another living sentient being, and had been trying to drag its still living torso into the night so that I could use it for my own goals. And here I was, being painfully crushed into the hard cement, while fighting against my friends who were only trying to restrain me so that they could get me the help they understandably thought I needed.

Right now, I didn't feel much like a human at all. I felt like a dirty beast that had been backed into a corner, like an animal that was being threatened.

My growl grew; my tired mind flitting back to way the Shikome's clicking had escalated in much the same way for some reason, until it was a full blown snarl. The speed at which the inches between me and the ground appeared increased at an ever faster pace, until finally my momentum reached the point I needed to clear enough space to get my feet under me. My snarl turned into a noise that reminded even me of a howl, and with my new leverage I forced myself up, tossing Thor's massive bulk off of me as I bellowed.

"Holy shit," Takeda swore again, his eyes wide as I caught sight of him midair. It looked like he had also been one of the people who had contributed their weight to Thor's. "Are we really sure this guy is Kenichi?"

"He's the only one who's ever thrown me before," Thor grunted, as he hit the ground rolling as he did so. "Damnit! Not again!"

"Oi!" Freya snapped, giving a pained grunt as she too was tossed. Unfortunately for her it looked like she had landed before Thor had, and in his path as well. "How did someone that small manage to do something like this!" That was as much as she got out before her eyes widened in an expression which would have been comical in a different situation as Thor's rolling girth started to descend on her. "Eek!"

"Oof! Sorry Freya!" Thor seemed embarrassed to put his long time comrade and recent friend into the same situation that I had been in only a few moments ago, something which I couldn't help but feel was distinctly unfair.

No, enough of that. Focus! This is your chance, Kenichi! No more hesitating, no more delays!

The gathered Shinpaku Alliance was scattered, the result of my inhuman and bestial strength having shocked even those who hadn't been tossed into inaction. This was my last chance! Now, why they were distracted!

I launched myself, not at any of the gathered fighters, but at where the vampire was still lying motionless. This was it! Grab the creature, and then hightail it out of here! Use the roofs, use the sewers, use martial arts, use your own vampire powers, just go, now Kenichi!

I closed, trailing the links of the chain attached to my discarded cross and with my free hand outstretched so I could snatch the thing up by the neck mid step, when I was stopped by a feather in the wind.

No. Not her. Anyone but her.

Just like before, with Siegfried, I'm not sure what it was that warned me about the assault. It had been instinct to dodge when the Immortal Composer's voice crossed my consciousness. There must have been something which prompted me to move, maybe a scent in the air or a noise I hadn't consciously picked up but had heard none the less. Whatever the case, I barely managed to throw myself to the side, yanking the chain in my hand up desperately to clutch it to defend what had once been the back of my neck.

I made it up in time to stop the blur of a well-muscled leg from delivering a blow I wasn't even certain my regeneration would have been enough for me to recover from in time. Even as the force of it drove me back, there was a flash of purple, pink, and blond as the attacker somehow managed to completely rotate, reversing their momentum as though through some sort of magic.

"Fuurinji Benikawasemi!" my attacker shouted, her leg driving with unbelievable speed directly towards my head. The 'Furinji Red Channel', a technique used by none other than…

"Honey!" Takeda shouted in triumph as he named my attacker.

No, wait a second. That wasn't her name at all!

I barely got my shoulder up into a Muay Thai guard in time to absorb the kick, and even then it sent me spinning backwards, slamming back against the wall with bone rattling force. If she had pressed the attack, then I wouldn't have been able to do anything in time to defend myself, but instead my aggressor just froze, staring at me with an expression of shock, hope, and despair all at once even as she settled into a combat stance.

Miu. You weren't supposed to see me like this. You weren't supposed to know this side of me. Why, oh why did you come, Miu?

"Kenichi-san," the blonde whom I had feelings for whispered, her eyes flitting about me as they took in my appearance. Miu swallowed, eyes finally settling on my eyes where they were mostly concealed by my hood. "Kenichi-san, that is you, isn't it?"

I couldn't meet her gaze. With a grimace, I turned my eyes instead towards the vampire, settled behind her.

I should have called this whole thing off the moment I heard that idiot Shaggy's voice.

"Oh, Kenichi-san," Miu swallowed, her expression one of regret as she saw me react to her question. "What did they do to you?"

"Whatever it was," a new voice added, and this one chilled me even more than Miu's had, "we'll just have to get the Elder to fix it up again afterwards."

Miu, I hadn't wanted to meet so that she wouldn't have to see this side of her gentle and clumsy friend.

This voice just meant I had no chance left. This battle was over, and I had lost. As though to drive the last nail down into the coffin of my hopes, my eyes tracked to the final speaker.

"Yo, midget," Sakaki Shio, the 'Hundredth Dan Brawler' declared in a sardonic tone of voice. Despite the casual words, my Master did not look happy at all. The expression on his face was downright murderous, and it sent a chill through my spine. "Not quite sure how much of you is in there right now, but don't worry. Once we get you back to Ryouzanpaku, we'll get you back to normal. Then you won't have to worry about a thing. Once we get who did this out of you, well, I'll be sure to take care of them myself."

Considering the fact that the only one responsible for me being in this state was me, that declaration did not do anything to alleviate my worries at all.

"Ke! Kekeke! Kekekekeke!" Niijima at least seemed to be enjoying this turn of events. "Soon, you'll be back under my guiding wings, my beloved cash-cow! Kekekekeke!"

"You mean friend, you alien!" Ukita snapped, taking a halfhearted blow at the madly cackling Niijima which the alien avoided with his usual unnatural gyrations.

"I was hoping to get this all wrapped up before Honey arrived," Takeda grumbled, though he was grinning as well at the reinforcements. "Guess I lost my chance to look cool again."

"Let's finish this up quick, before the kiddo misses any more school," Kisara chimed in, cockily adjusting her hat once more. "It would be a shame if ended up having to repeat year like this lug." She dug her elbow into Ukita playfully, and the bigger young man flushed slightly, though whether at the playful jab or at the unexpected contact with his not so secret crush.

"It's time to sing the Symphony of Friendship!" Siegfried declared grandly, arms outstretched as he began to hum grandly in preparation for the fight.

"Well then, kids," Sakaki's face split into a feral grin as he began to crack his knuckles in anticipation. "Just don't let that meddling mustache know I lent a hand. He'd probably give one of those lectures about Masters not getting involved in their Disciple's battles!"

The implication that Sakaki himself was going to join the fight directly sent a chill down my spine that probably shaved a dozen years off my life. Fortunately for me, it looked like I wasn't the only one feeling that response.

"Sakaki-san!" Miu chided, glaring at the older man. "We're trying to help Kenichi-san, not kill him!"

"I know that," Sakaki grumbled, though in the face of Miu's stern disapproval his fierce expression crumbled into something sheepish. He scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "I just wanted to hurry this up…"

"No means no," Miu sternly informed him, before she turned back to face me, her expression resolute. "Besides, this time it's my turn to be able to help Kenichi-san, just like he helped me before!" An ominous air began to form around Miu as she began to gather her resolve. For some reason, the feel of her ki was made even more unnerving by the fact that when Miu tried to resolve herself she tended towards making expressions which were terribly cute rather than scary.

"Tch," Sakaki grunted, before settling back to watch what promised to be a short fight indeed. "I guess I can let you have this one, Miu." He gave her a lopsided, playful grin. "Guess you can be the one Kenichi will get to be grateful too this time. Betch'ya looking forward to that, eh?"

"Sakaki-san!" Miu yelped, and began to blush brightly at what the Karate Master was implying. Despite her apparent embarrassment, she didn't shift from her ready position.

"Kekeke!" Niijima was full on in his evil dictator mode by now. "Shinpaku Alliance, prepare to attack!" In a move I recognized but still couldn't get past the ridiculousness of my friend leaned forward, his hands coming to frame his eyes with his thumbs and pointer fingers with the rest of the fingers pointing downwards. "Niijima Scan!"

It was one of Nijiima's strangest abilities, to just look at an opponent in that stance and be able to analyze them so completely. I'd always attributed it to some sort of strange alien power, but only in a joking fashion. It wasn't like Niijima was really an alien or anything.

At least, I was pretty sure he wasn't.

Maybe.

Even if this battle was over, I wasn't going to let it go easily. There might still be a way for me to escape, maybe in a moment of inattention, or maybe through pure luck. Maybe a plane would crash nearby, causing everyone to get distracted. Maybe I would somehow develop magical teleportation powers. Maybe…

Yeah, I couldn't think of anything more ridiculous at the moment, but it would have to be pretty freaking improbable for this to turn into victory.

Whatever the case was, I pushed myself off the wall with my shoulders, settling myself into my customary karate stance. This seemed to be the signal to the rest to start spreading out, though they hesitated to attack at once. Most likely they were waiting for Niijima to shout some advice from the back after he finished his weird scanning ability. This group had worked together well in the past, and Niijima had proven apt at creating attack patterns which increased the effectiveness of everyone as a whole.

It came as a surprise when instead of beginning to give directions, Niijima instead froze. His fingers drifted down from his silly looking pose, his eyes narrowed. Then he brought them up again, once more shouting his technique. "Niijima Scan!"

"Commander," Siegfried sang out, literally. "What is the matter?"

Slowly, Niijima let his arms fall down. Eyes narrowed, back straight, he gave me a searching glance.

"We're going to lose," he announced, all his good cheer from earlier gone. "We've underestimated the situation."

Even I couldn't suppress a small noise of shock at the declaration. On his side, the outcry from the rest of the Shinpaku Alliance was less restrained.

"What are you playing at, Niijima?" Ukita demanded, apparently so outraged by the declaration of hopelessness from the side that was holding all the cards that he didn't even use his favorite nickname for the other boy.

"What did you figure out, Niijima-kun?" Miu broke in, the blonde not taking her eyes off me for a second despite the surprised looks being spread among the rest of the gathered fighters. The only other two who continued to devote their whole attention to me was the one who had made the declaration, and Sakaki. My Master's eyes had narrowed, some of the seriousness he had shown when he first arrived returning. Miu's eyes widened as something occurred to her. "Has something else been done to Kenichi-san? Maybe some experiment to make him so strong?"

It wouldn't be the first time we'd come across a technique which could drastically increase a person's fighting potential. Asamiya Ryuuto, the Odin of Ragnarok, for instance had used one. He still suffered the consequences to this day, and most likely would never walk again.

"No, it's not like that," Niijima shook his head firmly. "We were wrong about why he's fighting. He's not brainwashed at all. Instead, he's fighting to protect someone."

"Protecting?" Kisara scoffed, though the moment Niijima finished those words the former delinquent boss tensed, the cool look of confidence in their victory faltering at the declaration. "But, like this? How is this protecting anything?" Kisara half turned, her eyes flickering to the still body of the vampire, disbelief clear in her expression. "How the hell could cutting up some stranger in a dark alley protect anyone?"

"You'd be surprised," Freya spoke up, though the cool older girl was also tensing, the knuckles of the hand clutching the staff whitening as she did so. "There are many reasons that something like this could be considered protection. Perhaps this stranger isn't as innocent as we thought?" The tension in her limbs increased as her eyes narrowed. "Or maybe… something else."

"What do you mean, Freya?" Thor bellowed, the big man still squatting even further in his customary sumo stance, his eyes narrowly flicking between me and his long time comrade. For some reason, he too seemed even tenser now that Niijima had made a declaration of my motivation. He had even begun to brush his douji off his shoulder, exposing his massive upper body even further to the night air.

I had yet another strange moment at wondering at the odd habit of those I knew to undress during tense moments. First Shaggy, then Takeda, now Thor. I knew such odd people these days.

"As one who has already played the role of a hostage, I can understand just what the one being threatened can be forced to endure," Freya grimly declared. "If someone you care for is in danger, many things which once seemed inconceivable become possible."

"So what, someone's threatening Kenichi to do this kind of thing?" Takeda growled, a good deal of his earlier joy in combat having vanished as my confronters once more showed their skill at leaping to confusion. "Shit. There goes the fun in this." Takeda's eyes narrowed, and even his tension began to grow.

"If so, lalalala," Siegfried trilled a few odd notes in the middle of his sentence, "then this situation has become much more dangerous. Lalala! After all, Kenichi is his strongest when, lala, protecting someone!"

He said the words so casually, that I almost brushed them off as just another of the composer's exaggeration. I was actually surprised when a round of grim nods announced the agreement of just about everyone else present.

Was that really how they saw me? That when I was protecting someone my strength was at my highest? Was that why even now the cocky air of certain victory was disappearing to be replaced by even more tension and nerve?

I… I had never seen myself in that light. The fact that all my friends seemed to have no doubt of the truth of that statement… I had no idea what to do.

I had good friends, it seemed.

"It wouldn't be the first time," Niijima, muttered, eyes still narrowed as he turned that fierce intellect of his to good instead of evil for once. His eyes glanced about, as though taking count of all those present. "They've threatened every one of us at one point or another." His eyes widened suddenly, and then narrowed even fiercer. "Has anyone heard from his sister recently!"

"Hanako-chan is fine!" Miu declared, shaking her head quickly. "She still comes by to see Shigure-san and Apachai."

"Well, if he's not actually brainwashed," Ukita began, looking confused at the way everyone else was starting to wildly speculate, "can't we just ask him why he's doing this instead?"

The moment of chagrined silence which settled on the rest of the fighters gathered would have been comical if the situation hadn't been so dire. It appeared that no, none of the other members of Shinpaku or Ryouzanpaku had actually considered that idea.

It was understandable. Like I had noted in the past, fighting usually really was more effective than talking in the Underworld.

"So midget," Sakaki began, the sheepish look on his face when he glanced to the side revealing that even he hadn't considered conversation. In his case, that made sense, I suppose. "Want to tell us what's going on?"

"No," I admitted, shaking my head slowly, reluctant to break my silence. It would be easier to fight these people right now than to talk to them, but if I was going to accomplish my goals then it looked like my only option was negotiation. "I don't suppose I could convince you all to go home and pretend you never saw me here?"

"Like hell," Sakaki told me, snorting as he did so. It had been such a wildly improbable chance that I don't think either one of us really had taken the question serious.

"What are you doing out here, Kenichi?" Takeda was the first to jump in on the opening my verbal response had created. "Disappearing out of nowhere, reappearing looking like a bum, and that…" Takeda's eyes flickered to the vampire. It still hadn't moved, and at this point I think that most of the gathered fighters had come to the conclusion that it was dead. "I don't understand what's going on!" Takeda growled, eyes closing in frustration.

"Let it go, Takeda," I told him, my voice tired as my exhaustion crept up on me once more.

"No!" the boxer snapped back, eyes flashing open as he glared at me, anger showing up in his voice. "If something is wrong, then why did you just disappear? Haven't we proven it already, that you don't have to do this alone? We've already stood against Yami together, and we're already involved! If you're just doing this to protect us…"

"There's more than just a left arm at stake here," I snapped, eyes narrowing as I uncomfortably pulled my hood lower over my head. "And there's no reason that anyone else should have to be at risk for this!"

Takeda flinched at my harsh words, his right hand coming up to cradle his left arm. A long time ago, Takeda had been a promising boxer. Then one of his friends had gotten in trouble, and when Takeda had come to help he had ended up with a paralyzed limb while his friend had gone on to a successful career. It was the reason that Takeda had become a delinquent in the first place. When I introduced him to Akisame, the mad doctor had been able to heal the damage to his arm. It had probably been the happiest moment of the former delinquent's life.

Ever since then, I had considered Takeda to be one of my friends. Maybe even my best friend, disregarding whatever it was Niijima counted as.

"Even if there's no reason, that's no reason not to ask!" Takeda shouted back, his frustration turning into anger at my refusal to accept his offer of aid. "Aren't we your friends, Kenichi?"

"It's because you're my friends that I don't want any of you here!" I grit out, my eyes narrowing as it was my turn to feel frustration over this. Why was this happening now? Why couldn't they just leave me alone!

"Kenichi-san," Miu cut in, and I flinched back, my anger flickering when I saw the hurt look on her face. "How can you say that? After everything you did for me, for all of us," she hastily corrected herself, flushing slightly as she glanced down in embarrassment for a moment, "after all the times you helped everyone here, how could you not want us to repay you!"

Despite her brief misstep, her voice gathered strength and speed until at the end Miu also was shouting back at me.

"Because this has nothing to do with any of you!" I shouted, and then I slapped a hand over my mouth, instantly regretting what I had said. I don't know if it was my frustration, or my exhaustion, or if I was just hungry and angry and disappointed or… or anything. I didn't know why I had said, that but I instantly knew it had been a mistake.

Miu flinched back as well, her eyes widening at harsh words, my complete dismissal of their relevance to this part of my life. "How can you say that, Kenichi-san?" Her hurt only lasted for a second, and then it was replaced by anger. "How can you say that! Aren't we friends? Aren't I maybe more… no," Miu cut herself off, her eyes narrowing as she puffed her cheeks in anger which was only comical in appearance, but not in emotion. "This must have to do with HER," she hissed like an angry cat. "That other woman, that Shinobu…"

It was Miu's turn to freeze, both her hands coming up to clap over her mouth as though to snatch back the words she had just said. My own hand fell, my eyes widening as I heard that name from her lips.

"How do you know about…" I began, and then my eyes narrowed. "Shigure-san told."

I didn't know what to feel about that. That the Master whom I had been becoming closer to, who I had shared a singular aspect of my life with, whom I had come to trust so much, had so brutally violated that faith. I should feel angry, or disappointed, or betrayed.

I just wanted to sleep. To find a corner, somewhere dark and quiet, and curl up in it and not wake up for a long time.

"Oi," Sakaki hastily interrupted, his eyes flickering between Miu and I as he picked up on the new tension which had sprung up at that name. "It's not like that, Kenichi," he hastily continued, one hand coming up to rub the back of his head as he shifted uncomfortably. Sakaki was always more at home on the battlefield, not in emotional scenes like this. "It's just, after you and Shigure came back in that state Miu and I were worried. When you left right afterwards, we kinda followed you…"

Blankly, I looked at the inappropriately nervous Master as he confessed to having spied on me during one of my most private moments.

Then, I couldn't stop a dry, self-deprecating laugh from bubbling out.

"Ha. Haha," I slouched backwards, one hand coming up to press against my forehead as I did so. "I guess all debts really are repaid. This has to be karma."

It had to be. It was the only thing that made sense to me at the moment. Just as I had listened in on Sakaki's story of his past told only to the Elder, just as I hadn't been able to stay away from his fight with his rival, so too did he get to intrude on my past.

Miu as well. For concealing the truth I knew about her father, the truth about my past friends could no longer be contained.

Was this fate, or just irony? I didn't believe in coincidence anymore not since even meeting up with Shaggy had proven to have hidden meaning, so it couldn't be that.

"Shigure is worried about you, you know that, Kenichi," Sakaki continued, eying me cautiously as though he didn't know what to do about my strange reaction. "Everyone at Ryouzanpaku took you leaving pretty hard. We must have torn down a dozen Yami bases trying to find you before we figured out that you weren't with them. But Shigure, well, she took it the worst. I think she blames herself."

I flinched again, the already familiar feeling of being the world's biggest heal returning with reinforcements. "How is she doing?" I couldn't help but ask.

"She spends a lot of time in her room now," Sakaki admitted, frowning as he did so. "She's stopped taking meals with the rest of the house again. And she goes out on more trips and comes back with more injuries as well. We're not sure if she's looking for you, or just doing more sword hunting."

"Sword hunting I hope," I muttered eyes drifting closed for a moment. "She's still might not be ready for anything else."

"You mean that 'Nightworld' thing you mentioned?" Sakaki shrewdly guessed, and my eyes opened immediately, my jaw setting as I stubbornly prepared to shut up. Sakaki seemed to recognize my impending obstinate mood, and instead changed the subject. "You look like shit, midget," he instead told me with characteristic bluntness. "When's the last time you slept?"

"It's Tuesday, right?" I narrowed my eyes, glad that he hadn't pressed any further. "So I guess three days now?"

"Kiddo, it's Saturday," Kisara pointed out, disbelief in her voice as she corrected my slipping sense of time. Blankly, I gave her a look, honestly surprised at the true day of the week.

"Oh," I added dully, not sure what else to say to that.

"How can you just sit there saying things like 'oh'?" Takeda demanded. It looked like the hot blooded boxer wasn't able to hold back his annoyance anymore over not being able to follow the conversation. "Just what is happening? Who is this Shinobu? What's going on!"

"Don't say that name," I hissed, my irrational anger at hearing someone else bring up my zebra, I mean trauma rising up, sudden and unstoppable. All the frustration at the delays, all the tension of the past month, it was though it had been boiling up inside of me without me even noticing. And hearing that name, it felt like there was a key scrabbling at a lock that would release things I had been holding back for a long time.

"Why not?" Takeda demanded, honest frustration seeming to overtake his anger as he continued to bat his head against the wall of ignorance that was keeping him from understanding. "If she's so important, than why haven't we heard anything about her before?"

"Because she was dead!" I shouted, and with those words it was like I could no longer hold back the tirade that had been buried deep inside of me for so long. "Because they were all dead, and I wasn't!" My eyes snapped open, too wide, like those of a cornered beast as I glared at the ground in front of me as the unexpected force of my voice caused me to double over. "They were killed, right there, without a second thought, and I couldn't do anything about it! Senjougahara, Hanekawa, and Kanbaru, and even Shinobu, but not me!"

I couldn't express my rage at that thought, not vocally, so I took my free hand and slammed it into the wall behind me. The concrete shattered, and I felt my hand crack as well. It wasn't enough, so I did it again, chips of the brick wall flaking off and bouncing against my hood as I snarled.

"And I couldn't do anything about it! I couldn't kill myself, they wouldn't have wanted that! They made sure I couldn't! And I couldn't get revenge, either! They wouldn't have wanted that either! All I could do was live, and move on, and that's exactly what I did! For three years, I moved on! Until that damn fox…"

"I think we just heard something outrageous," Kisara hissed, sounding horrified at the rant I couldn't stop.

"Hmhmhmhmmm," even Siegfried sounded subdued, his normal singing reduced to a slight hum. "Such a powerful melody of despair!"

"What about the fox?" Sakaki at least seemed prepared for my venting. His eyes were narrowed, and he had that same tenseness that only showed up when he was contemplating doing something to terrible to someone who had hurt a member of Ryouzanpaku.

"She told me the truth!" I hissed, not sure if I wanted to hate the fox, or if I should be grateful to it for that fact. "All this time, I thought they were dead. But one wasn't! Shinobu had survived, injured, weak, in a coma, but alive! And what have I been doing all this time? Moving on? Making new friends? Ha!" My fist came back down at the wall, my voice a portrait of self-loathing. "I should have been helping her! I should have checked, searched, found out, anything! All this time I should have been helping her, and instead I've just been 'moving on'!"

"Kenichi-san," Miu sounded like she was about to cry, no, there were already tears in her eyes as she heard my story. The hands that had been put to her mouth lowered, and she took a hesitant step forward, reaching out with one of them as though to comfort me. "Kenichi-san, calm down…"

"No!" I screamed, turning my glare on her for lack of any other target. She flinched away, her hands coming back up to her mouth as she took a step back. "I said that I would take up Martial Arts so that I wouldn't have to turn my back on the things that others pretend not to see! But that's all I've been doing! I've been doing nothing but turning my back all this time on the one who needed my help the most!"

There was no doubt in my mind that the fox had told me the truth. Because the one thing the Tamamo-no-Mae loved was hurting people, and there was nothing in the world that could have hurt me more than this one, inescapable fact. Even if I had wanted to deny it, if I had tried to convince myself that she was lying, she had provided proof as well.

Proof, and a method for me to help Shinobu recover.

The shame, the anger, the frustration, the loathing, both at myself and the world, it was all welling up in me. With no other way to vent it I turned, taking my slowly recovering hand and slammed into the wall again, this time knuckle first. It sank nearly an inch into the hard concrete, the knuckles shattering even more. I ignored the pain, instead pulling it out. It hadn't been enough.

It wouldn't be enough until I had done everything I could to help Shinobu.

"Oi, Kenichi," Sakaki's voice was sharp, though I could hear the worry in it as he took in my self-destructive attempt at relieving my frustration. "If that's all then we can just ask Akisame and Ma to take a look at your friend. If it's those two, they can find a way."

"I've already found a way," I hissed, wheeling to face my Master, tearing back my hood as my frustration returned, even fiercer then before. "And it's right over there," I pointed my broken fist at the still vampire. "And you all are standing between me and it! Now move!" I shouted, turning to glare at the thing I needed to help Shinobu.

"Kenichi-san," Miu began, swallowing as she took a step forward, concern on her face. I shook my head wildly, not able to think, just wanting them to go so that I can do what I needed to do.

"Move! Move damnit!" I shouted, clenching my fists, moving almost by instinct into a fighting position.

"Kenichi-san, your eyes!" Miu screamed back, dropping her fists to her side and closing her eyes as she matched my fury with her own.

"What about my…" I scrubbed my uninjured hand across my face in instinctive response to Miu's words, bringing it up so that I could see it, and then I froze.

Blood. There was blood on my fist.

Where did that come from?

Oh. From my eyes. My cheeks were wet. Was I crying? When had that started?

Blood was coming from my eyes. Did that count as crying blood, or was it that I was bleeding tears? I couldn't figure out which was the appropriate response. My mind felt to fuzzy, to heavy to puzzle it through.

Shinobu had cried blood once, when we first met, when she had begged me to die for her and it had appeared that I was going to refuse. She had begged, and pleaded, and howled, and wept her frustration over her impending death.

And now I was bleeding tears as well.

My plan was working.

Somehow, in my strung out state, that struck me as terribly amusing. I began to laugh, still staring at my bloody tears on my healing hand. It wasn't a happy sound. It was something desperate, something hysterical. I realized that if this kept up, I might not be able to stop. So I took the blood covered fist and hit myself with it, hard enough to knock me back a few stumbling steps until I rested against the wall again, my head leaning back against it as I looked up.

The feel of concrete was cool, and outside in the night air I could feel the wind in my hair finally. When had my hair gotten so greasy? It felt oily against my skin, and dirty. For the first time that night, I truly paid attention to my own smell, and it was enough to make me cringe.

What was I doing, out here? What was I doing to myself?

"I'm so tired," I muttered, repeating my mantra out loud for the first time. It seemed to give the words an impact, and I had trouble ignoring the ache in my body that sleep deprivation had been spawning.

"That a boy with such clear eyes could have such a thing in his past," Thor murmured, sounding aghast. I could barely make the larger fighter out of the corner of my eyes, but couldn't bring myself to give him any more attention as I stared up at the night sky. It was so clear out. Even with the light pollution of the city, I could make out stars. When was the last time I had looked at stars? I couldn't remember

"Regardless of whatever happened, you know that you can't keep this up, don't you Kenichi?" it was Niijima who chose to actually address me, the alien sounding unusually serious. "If you keep this up, then not only will you destroy yourself, but you won't be able to help the friend you're working so hard for." He paused, his voice lowering. "Unless destroying yourself is what you want as well."

"Ah," was all I could bring myself to say. Was he right? Was that what I was doing here? Was this really the best choice, the only option, or was it just self-deception, using this as a way to punish myself for my own failures? I didn't know anymore. Maybe I had never known.

"Kenichi-san," it was Miu this time, her voice no longer hesitant, or angry. "Let's go back, to Ryouzanpaku! We'll help you save your friend, no, I'll help you! Together, we can save her, no matter what is wrong!" Her voice was so confident, so sure, that I found myself lowering my head towards her. She had her hand out, and she was smiling. She looked so beautiful like that. "This time, let me be the one to protect you, Kenichi-san!"

Slowly, I felt my hand rising as well. I wanted to believe; in Miu, in my Masters, in my friends. Maybe they were right. My eyes tracked down dully, to look at the vampire once more. Maybe there was another way…

My eyes flashed open, adrenaline flushing through me. "Miu! Get away from it! Now!" My tone was different from earlier, my order to move not being fueled by confused rage and exhaustion. Now, my words were laced with panic.

The vampire had opened its eyes, and when they met mine a cold grin grew on its face. At some point, Miu had backed up until she was too close to the creature, her bared ankle only a foot away from its head. As though it could read my fear, the vampire gave an insolent lick to its fangs, before facing towards the unaware girl.

"Keni-?" Miu, confused by my sudden shout, not understanding my panic, took a half step backwards.

Backwards, and into the limited range of the creature's fangs.

Instinct was moving me then, pushing off the wall, racing towards Miu, desperate to get her away from the thing. I'm not sure if it was the adrenaline, or some vampire power, or just one of those moments where emotion caused the senses to work in one of those super human states, but it felt like everything was slowing down. The opening of the vampire's mouth, the craning of its neck as it sought to get the blood it would need to help recover from the holy wounds, the way Miu was flinching, arms raising to a defensive position as she hesitated to react to my aggressive movements…

I didn't know what would happen if that thing got its fangs into her. How fast could it drain her blood? If it did, would there be any lingering side effects on the innocent girl? She was strong enough to shake it's jaws off, that much I was sure of, but what kind of damage would that thing's fangs do to her leg in the meantime? There were so many tendons in the ankle which were important to fighting, and Martial Artists have had their careers ended by wounds in that region.

I couldn't let that happen, not to Miu.

And then, things got worse.

It was thanks to that same heightened state that I caught it, the exact moment when the light in Miu's eyes dimmed. Her eyelids narrowed over empty orbs, and her body tensed, the leg shifting even closer to the vampire's mouth as she prepared to try and kill me.

No, not now. Not here! Of all the times to revert to Junazard's spell!

I was still shouting, but only a distant part of me noticed it. The rest of me was frantically racing through the situation. Miu was about to be attacked by a monster, just like I had so long ago. She was currently reverting to a primal state where she wouldn't hesitate to launch a lethal attack at me. Like this, she wouldn't listen to my pleas to move, and calming her down to a state where she would pay attention would take too long.

If she wouldn't move on her own, then I would have to move her myself.

But how could I get her out of the way?

The fact was that Miu was better than me, in just about every arena I could think of. Faster, stronger, more skilled, in all those areas she surpassed me. There was no guarantee that even if I were to just tackle her that would be enough to get her out of range of those fangs. She could probably stop even my greater mass without budging an inch.

There was only one move I had that was strong enough, fast enough, that I could possibly use to get her clear. My tired mind latched onto it, and instinctively I moved to set it up.

Without a word, Miu's fist came carving at me, slicing through the air so quickly it was almost a blur, even in my heightened state of awareness.

In response, I planted my left foot into the ground so firmly that I might as well have taken root. Some instinct seemed to warn the bloodthirsty Miu, and her other hand came up, even in mid strike, to defend her body.

My right foot met that defense, and with all the power that my Masters had imparted to me, I crushed that guard like it wasn't there at all.

"Kurui Nuki!" The 'Without Weakpoint' technique, passed down to me by the Elder. It is a technique which deliberately targets the weakest point in an enemy's guard, and then uses the overwhelming power of my lower body to simply smash right through it without being stopped. The blow landed, and I watched, eyes desperately tracking the movement as she was lifted, the vampire's fangs clamping shut only a fraction of a moment too late to find her flesh.

It had worked! The force of the technique continued to propel Miu backwards, sending her out of range of any further attempt of the vampire to get her blood.

"You bastard," I growled, using the derogatory term 'Kisama' as I glared my hatred at the thing which had nearly wounded my most beloved friend. This must have been why the vampire had been so docile. It had been biding its time, hoping to lure either me, or one of the other humans present close enough for it to attack from its apparently helpless state. "You son of a bitch!"

My leg had still been extended high in the air, and I used that position to bring it down, in a stomp which also used all of my power. The thing's eyes widened and blood erupted from its mouth as my foot shattered many of its ribs, probably crushing some of its organs as well. I kept my foot on its chest, grinding my heel down into it. I could feel its regeneration kicking in, but I wouldn't give it that relief. I was going to make it hurt for what it had almost done to…

Done to Miu.

I froze.

Behind me, I could hear voices, voices I could understand but couldn't pay attention to.

"Honey!" that one was Takeda, the outrage in his voice obvious, but unimportant to me.

"Shit, is the dairy cow alright?" Kisara that time.

"Why would Kenichi attack her like that?" Even Freya sounded shocked.

"The other one moved first," Niijima noted, the alien's tone tense. "It tried to bite her. Kenichi got her out of the way…"

"And hurt her far worse than any bite would have," Takeda snapped back, not wanting to hear Niijima's analysis.

Neither did I, for that matter.

All I could do was stand, frozen, staring at where Sakaki was cradling Miu. Had he caught her midair? I had been too busy punishing the vampire to notice. Even the Karate Master seemed shocked by what had just happened.

"Ken..ichi," Miu gasped, arm wrapped around her ribs as she cradled the spot where I had…

Where I had hit her.

A woman. I had hit a woman. The one thing I had sworn not to do, and I had just done it. Not just any woman, but Miu. Miu, my first friend since the others were killed, the one who had given me the conviction to start really living again, the girl that I had grown to love…

And I had hit her.

That laughter from earlier, the one I had punched myself to stop returned. I couldn't breathe, the hysteria overcoming even that biological urge as I tried to wrap my mind about what I had just done and found I couldn't. So in order to stop the laughing, I screamed instead.

I screamed all the doubts, the anger, the fear, the regret, the rage, everything. But I wasn't able to stop that either.

So instead I just cut it off. Everything I was feeling, everything, I swallowed it, forcing it down deep inside where it couldn't affect me, and then I locked it away.

"Is that the Ryuusei Seikuken?" Sakaki asked, eyes narrowed as he took in my sudden and probably disturbing calm. The Ryuusei Seikuken, the 'Flowing Water Control of the Air Sphere' was one of the highest techniques of Sei, 'Silent' techniques. It was one of the pinnacles of defense, involving the creation of a territory around the user wherein they could instinctively react to any intruder.

Whereas the Seikuken involved making a sphere around the user as the territory, the Ryuusei Seikuken condenses that territory to just around the surfaced of the user's skin. In order to use it, the wielder must have a perfect calm. Normally, it is only after the calm has been achieved that the technique can be used. However, for me I had in the past used the Ryuusei Seikuken in reverse. After having practiced the technique for so long, by simply beginning the opening set up of the technique I can enforce the necessary stillness by instinct.

"Yes," I admitted, and the cool and unwavering tone of my voice was a far cry from my earlier screaming and shouting. Sakaki's eyes narrowed as he took in the change in my posture.

"Damn," he muttered. "It looks like things have gotten complicated." Gently, he helped Miu shift until she was lying on the ground. Judging from the expression on her face even that movement seemed to cause her pain, though when she saw me looking at her she scrunched up her face as though to try and hide it. "No more complaints about me interfering," Sakaki announced, face set. "I need to get both of them back Ryouzanpaku fast now, and I can't afford to take the time to be gentle about it. I'll ask you just once, Kenichi. Will you come back willingly?"

"No," I responded flatly. It was too late to go back to Ryouzanpaku. It was far, far too late for that. It was better if I never went back there. I had already gone too deep into the Nightworld now, and there was no need to involve any of the others anymore. They didn't even realize just how close one of them came to maybe dying or becoming a monster only seconds ago. I had been right not to involve them in the Nightworld.

It would be better to leave them behind while I finish what I set out to do. There were no longer any other paths for me.

"It looks like you made a man's choice," Sakaki noted, and despite the gravity of the situation he seemed almost proud about that. "If you've made your choice, then you have no complaints about me treating you like an adult, right?"

"Thank you, Master," I told him, kicking the vampire's torso out of the way. It probably wouldn't make a difference considering the power difference between Sakaki and I, but every little bit might help in this upcoming fight. "But I can't let myself get stopped now."

He snorted, rubbing his nose idly with one hand. "When the hell did you grow up so much?" he grumbled before refocusing himself. It was probably just a means of acknowledgement, but rather than just beat me he made a show of assuming a proper stance, arms up in the Maeba no Kamae, the 'Front of the Wings', stance.

This fight had no chance of victory in my favor, but that didn't mean I would surrender.

However, even as I resigned myself to a meaningless battle and a swift defeat, I was saved by a descending fairy.

No. Not a fairy. A descending onryou.

The first hint I had of the new presence was the way Sakaki's eyes suddenly shot open, a look of shock appearing on them, before his body tensed, his muscles expanding so rapidly that his denim jacket seemed unable to keep up with their new size and shredded itself apart in an explosion of fabric. Yet another example of stripping to add to my list. Then he was moving, so fast I could barely track him, even with my Ryuusei Seikuken active. He charged, and I barely had time to begin moving before he had passed me by. It wasn't me he was attacking I realized as I spun to try and follow his movements.

It was the pale skinned figures dressed in white haori and blue hakama pants which had appeared simultaneously behind every gathered member of the Shinpaku Alliance without them even realizing it. All of them had been reaching out with one hand, some about to close on the necks of their targets, others on their skulls, but all in various states of attack. Somehow, Sakaki was managing to move between all seven of the only now reacting Shinpaku Alliance members, his fists and feet slicing through each of the figures, causing them to disperse.

Bunshin, I realized.

"Well, well, boya," a voice I behind me clued me in that it wasn't just Shinpaku whom had someone sneak up on them. "It seems you've been up to some rather charming things lately."

I at least could recognize that voice, both by its tone and its choice of words. However, since it seemed that this was the rest of Shinpaku's first chance to meet the speaker, one of them at least jumped to a wrong conclusion.

"Ah!" Ukita yelped, frantically pointing his finger at me and cowering backwards, not even realizing that Sakaki was there dealing with an attack which would most likely have killed him instantly. "It's Yotsuya Oiwa!"

"Good evening, Kushinada-san," still wrapped in the enforced calm of the Ryuusei Seikuken I turned to greet the Bewitching Fist of the Nine Shadow One Fist. I cocked my head to the side as I caught sight of her, understanding Ukita's case of mistaken identity. "You've changed since the last time we met."

While her outfit was much the same as it had been, the traditional Miko garments that had been modified to show off even more of her body through the use of creative stitching, there had been changes there. For one, the color of her hakama had been altered, being changed from their previous dark red to a much paler blue. Traditionally, this coloration indicated a rank of seniority among actual Miko. Also, just like Chikage, Kushinada had apparently begun to carry a nusa as well, the wand tucked loosely into her belt so that it would be out of her way for the most part.

But all that paled in the face of the change which had occurred on the woman herself.

It had been almost six months since this lady had paid me well for a consultation on how to deal with an irate goddess. I had given her five options to avert the anger of the divine: to ignore it, to kill it, to worship it, to appease it, and to join it.

Kushinada Mikumo had made her choice.

The left half of her face was no more. In its place was only a wreckage of twisted scars and hideous flesh. Starting at just below her hairline and tracing all the way down her face and to her neck it was as though someone had bathed her skin in acid, causing it to melt away and solidify in obscene waves. It managed to avoid all but the edge of her eye, but the flesh there was drooping, as was the left side of her lips as well. The wreckage went further, down her neck, and thanks to the exceedingly low cut nature of her top it was shown that not even her breast had been spared the damage. Whatever had been done to her had even affected her hair as well, a few wisps of ragged and coarse white strands joining the rest of her otherwise smooth and luxurious black hair.

Somehow, despite this maiming, it only made the woman before me even more striking then she had been before. She held herself with such grace and confidence, that it felt as though she bore what would otherwise be a hideous mark of shame as a badge of pride instead, and the juxtaposition of the damaged half only made the still unblemished half that much more alluring.

"I've you to thank for such a change," Kushinada informed me, raising one hand up to cover her mouth as though to conceal a smile. "It has been most effective so far."

"I'm pleased that you have found my advice satisfactory," I informed her politely, before my eyes narrowed briefly. "You have remembered to make a pilgrimage to the Myogyou temple, haven't you?"

The name Ukita had called, Yotsuya Oiwa wasn't just some random one. Oiwa was considered one of the most active and malevolent onryou in all of Japan. Her story was a famous one, the 'Yotsuya Gaidan', the 'Ghost Story of Yotsuya', and had been in the past made into a Noh play and even over a dozen different movies.

Oiwa, who had received poisoned skin cream by a girl who had been in love with her husband, and been maimed by the evil gift. Her face had been deformed, the flesh being so damaged that the drooping of her left eye had become her most famous characteristic. Her husband, unable to bear the sight of her, had tried to convince a friend to rape her to give him an excuse to divorce her, but the friend had been so disgusted that he had just used a mirror to show the woman what had happened to her. When she tried to take her husband's sword to kill the girl who had maimed her, they had fought over it and eventually she had tripped and fallen on it, cursing her husband as she died.

Afterwards, she returned as one of the cruelest spirits in Japanese legends. She tricked her former husband into killing his new fiancée who was Oiwa's sister, and her father, and haunted him endlessly. Eventually, he retreated to a temple, but even 'God's Country' wasn't enough to stop her grudge, and he died a madman, slain in pity by one of his former enemies.

Now, Oiwa was most infamous for haunting productions of her story. Just like western plays and productions feel that 'Macbeth' is a cursed play, refusing to speak the name Macbeth unless it's required by the script, so too is Yotsuya Gaidan haunted. There have been many accidents and strange incidents on the sets of companies trying to produce the story, and even deaths have occurred at times. Consequentially, any actress that received the part of Oiwa always made a pilgrimage to her shrine in order to ask for her blessing.

"I have promised to go once a year for the rest of my life," Kushinada assured me, still concealing her lips, "and to donate generously to its upkeep."

"Who is she?" in the background I could hear Kisara demanding answers from Ukita, and despite the fact that Kushinada was usually the type that Kisara couldn't stand, the type with large breasts to be specific, there was none of her usual jealousy at the sight of the other woman. "And what happened to her face?"

"Damn, the old man is gonna be disappointed that his old squeeze ended up like this," Sakaki leered, though despite the light hearted tone of his voice it looked like he hadn't lost any of his tension. He had fought against Kushinada before, after all, and though he had sat out half way through in order to let Shigure take the lead, he knew damn well that for all that this newcomer appeared to be nothing more than a fallen beauty, she was a martial artist in the ranks of the Elder as well.

"Why are you here, Kushinada-san?" I had to ask, giving the woman who could destroy me with probably no more effort than a glance a frank question. In the depths of the Seikuken, that was all the emotional response I could spare for her.

Kushinada was silent a moment, one hand still up to conceal her mouth, and then without a word she reached out with her other hand towards my face.

"No!" Miu shouted, before she doubled over, apparently having forgotten about her injuries as she reacted to Kushinada's advance on me. Miu had been on the boat where we first had met this particular Master, and my fellow Disciple knew just how terrifying this inauspicious Miko really was. "Kenichi-san! Get away!"

Something in me fluttered, and my Seikuken nearly shattered at the feeling. Even now, even after I had attacked her, hurt her so fiercely, Miu was still worried about me.

Again, my heart nearly wavered, the feeling of shame almost enough to pull me from my calm. I forced it down. There was no time for that anymore.

Instead of attacking, Kushinada's fingers just found my cheek, gently brushing against them for a moment. She was using her left hand to do so, and this close I could make out the maiming which was present even there. Despite the gruesome nature of the injuries, there was no stiffness in her movements. Whatever she had done to herself, it seemed her wounds were purely cosmetic. I was willing to bet that she had been in no way diminished in the use of her art.

Her hand lingered a second, before pulling away. I realized that all she had done was capture one of the drying tears of blood on one of her ruined fingers. She gazed at it a second, and then her fingers returned to my face, forcing my chin up so she study me more closely.

"Hmmm," she finally hummed, sounding pleased about something. "You're making some good eyes, boya." Her concealing hand moved just enough for me to see the un-ruined side of her mouth, and the small smile that was forming there. "Yes, you're shaping up quite nicely."

"La! What are you doing to Kenichi, lala?" Siegfried demanded. It looked like out of all of the gathered Shinpaku, he was the only one who seemed unaffected, either by Kushinada's beauty or by her hideousness. Instead, the Immortal Composer just stood tall, arms outstretched in his customary battle stance as he began to advance. As a counter attack specialist, it wasn't like he could just charge in feet or fist first like the rest of us. He had to provoke his enemy into making the first blow.

"Oh, what an uncouth lad," Kushinada murmured, giving the musician a glancing look. That was all the warning he got before an apparition appeared before him, the ghostly shape already launching an attack directly at his eyes. Before the bunshin could strike, it was Sakaki's turn to appear, picking the kid up and bodily throwing him back and away even as a ham sized fist dispersed the ki strike. Siegfried spun through the air, still singing as he did so to land in an ungainly tumble, limbs sprawled all about him as he did so.

"Down, kid," Sakaki ordered, eyes narrowed as he continued to remain tense. "This one is Yomi."

"But what is a Yomi member doing here…" Niijima protested, then his eyes shot open. He whirled on Ukita, who flinched back at the alien's wide eyed look. "You! You called Chikage, didn't you!"

"Well, yeah," Ukita admitted, the poor delinquent having no idea why Niijima would bring that up now. "The little squirts been so worried about Kenichi, that when I heard we had found him I gave her a call to let her know."

"You idiot!" Niijima hissed, hands coming up to clench his hair in frustration. The only ones in Shinpaku that actually knew that Chikage was a member of Yami and a Disciple class Martial Artist were Niijima, Miu, and I. It looked like this secret had finally worked in Yami's favor.

Still, Kushinada spared the gallery no more looks. Instead, she turned to give the vampire a once over. The beast had recovered from the damage I had inflicted on its ribs by this point, and now that it's ploy to play dead had failed, it only glared at the gathered humans, its lips quirked in contempt. It still hadn't said a word yet, and even if its first attempt had failed it looked like it was still biding its time, hoping for a second chance.

"So," Kushinada mused, her own eyes narrowing slightly as she seemed to realize something. "Just what are you planning to do to this thing? Kill it, I hope?"

It looked like the Bewitching fist had made some real strides in Nightworld if she was able to tell with just a glance that the creature sprawled on the ground wasn't even human.

"No," I shook my head calmly. "I won't kill it. I'll take what I need from it, and then let it go free."

"A Katsujin Ken, even with this thing?" Kushinada's tone was displeased. She cast another disdainful eye at the vampire, whose lips had parted into a mocking smile when it heard my plan. "Would not letting it go free indeed go counter to your very nature, Shirahama-kun?"

For a moment, I was silent, my own gaze turning to the vampire. Finally, I asked the much older woman a question.

"Do you know what a taboo is, Kushinada-san?"

"Taboo?" Kushinada's eyebrow, the one she still had anyway, quirked slightly. "Boya," she began, sounding displeased at my seemingly inconsequential inquiry. "Are you perhaps having trouble focusing again?"

"A taboo is act which is abstained from in order to gain something," I cut her off, eyes still lingering on the vampire. "They can be social or just personal. Either way, the act of obeying a taboo or breaking a taboo is something which can give a person power, one way or another."

Kushinada seemed like she was about to say something, but paused, her gaze settling on me with almost palpable weight. Her expression had shifted into something I recognized, the same expression she had right after she had survived an encounter with a goddess and looked to me for answers. At this moment, Kushinada seemed to have resigned herself to once more being my student in the Nightworld.

"For the Katsujin Ken and the Satsujin Ken, that taboo is killing," I went on focusing on the philosophical point which was the source of so much conflict between Ryouzanpaku and Yomi. "The act of killing confers power on the killer. It lets them finish fights quicker, use more dangerous moves, and makes them stronger, in a way. For the Katsujin Ken, the same is also true. The act of not killing means that the fighter must work harder, be more in control and more skilled in order not to end their opponents life. They take the burden of having to protect all those around them, and that responsibility can inspire them to grow even stronger."

It had been that way for Apachai, after all. Raised from the youngest age to be a powerful fighter, the Death God of Underground Muay Thai, it had been harder for him not to kill then to kill. The very act of holding back, of learning how to control himself, had been the drive which eventually led him to be able to surpass even his old teacher Agaard Jum Sai, even if the act had almost cost Apachai his life.

"You speak of killing and not kill only in terms of the power it grants," Kushinada noted, sounding both pleased and amused by my words. I shrugged.

"Morality is often in the eye of the beholder," I admitted, not even caring how the others would take that statement. "For me, whether or not a taboo is considered just, or whether it should be obeyed is up to each individual." Even in the calm of the Seikuken, I felt my heart skip a beat. "I've already violated one taboo that I believed in. From here on out, I can never again be 'a man who will not hit a woman'. I don't want to add 'a man who has killed' to that list today."

"God, that's a relief," I heard Sakaki hiss, and despite the way things had turned out my Master seemed pleased to hear that for all that had happened, I was still a member of the Katsujin Ken. His eyes were flickering between Kushinada and I rapidly, narrowed in consternation. It looked ike he honestly had never thought that two so dissimilar people would be able to converse so freely.

If he knew just how much this woman had paid me in the past for services rendered, he probably would have fainted.

"Besides," I added, more for the vampire's benefit than anyone else's. The thing had a disdainful look on its face as it apparently heard my moralizations and found them beneath it. "There are fates worth than death. What I'm going to do to this one counts. By the time I'm done, it will beg me to kill it. It might just die from what I will do to it anyway. But if it does, it won't be at my hands."

That wiped the smug smile of the dirty things face.

"Hmmm," Kushinada definitely seemed satisfied with my last little addition to my impromptu lesson. "I've missed being able to rely on you, Shirahama-kun. Please hurry and complete your business so that we can continue ours." As though the words were a dismissal, the Jujitsu user began to walk, passing me by without a second glance. "Now, shouldn't you collect your prize and be on your way? I doubt that you will have any pursuit now."

"Damn," Sakaki muttered, eying the approaching Kushinada with a scowl. I could understand his worries. He had fought against Kushinada once before, after all, and that had been with only Shigure and myself nearby. The woman had proven to be a terrifying foe in the past. More than that, Kushinada had proven twice now that she had no problem using ki feints on bystanders to disrupt the flow of combat. Not only would Sakaki have to fight Kushinada, but he would have to do so while simultaneously protecting the rest of the gathered Shinpaku alliance. He wouldn't have time to worry about one wayward Disciple, not in with this kind of foe.

"Kushinada-san," I couldn't stop myself from asking, a hint of concern all I could force out through the Seikuken. "Are you planning on helping me?"

If she was, then it could definitely turn the tides in my favor. With her on my side, I would have a counter to my Master. Hell, with her on my side, the hardest part would be to keep her from killing any of my friends, if they could still be called that after what had happened.

"Help you?" Kushinada seemed amused, though she didn't bother to turn around to face me. "I'm just a passerby who happened to come across a member of the Katsujin Ken, and acted accordingly. I don't recall offering some random boy any help."

Despite myself, I felt a small smile twitch on my lips. To hear the same line I had used to dismiss my interference with the Shikome returned to me…

It seemed I wasn't the only one with a talent for sophistry.

"You," an entirely new voice broke in, and this time it got the attention of everyone, even Kushinada. With a start, I realized that the vampire had finally spoken. "I've heard of you," it continued, its eyes narrowed as it studied me with recognition finally appearing on its face. "You're the Wicked Blossom, aren't you."

The thing's voice was rough, and its Japanese was heavily accented. It used a very crude conjugation form, the kind which would normally only be used by a superior addressing someone several stations below them. This obviously wasn't a creature used to being polite to its food. It couldn't even phrase that last sentence like a question, the words coming out more like an accusation.

"Yes," I nodded, my own voice growing as hard as my cooled temper would allow. It was funny, but I had finally figured out what the title meant. It really did fit me.

The thing gave me one last look over, and then turned to Kushinada. "You. Priestess. Kill me," it ordered, still using its rough tone.

Kushinada paused, glancing between the vampire and me, her expression cool and showing no confusion despite the outlandish request.

"Why do you hesitate?" the thing spat, eyes narrowing as it did so. "Are you not a holy woman? Is it not your duty?" Its eyes glanced in my direction, and if I hadn't been fortified I might have been shocked by the emotion in its look: hate, anger, and surprisingly enough fear as well. "Well, hurry, you sow," the thing growled, glaring at Kushinada as the woman unsurprisingly did not leap to follow its order. "Or are you naught but an aruki-miko…"

That was as far as the thing got before Kushinada drew her nusa and seemingly disappearing from where she was and reappearing directly in front of the vampire, the papered wand being forced into the things jaw, choking it and blocking any other word it might have said.

"Aruki-miko?" it was Ukita who voiced the confusion that the others were probably feeling at the unfamiliar phrase. "A walking priestess?"

"It comes from during the Kamakura period when the Shogunate cracked down on religion," I explained in a bemused tone of voice. Wow. That thing really did not know when to shut up. "A lot of the Miko of the time had no homes, and were forced to wander. Most of them ended up becoming prostitutes."

"You mean he just called her a…"Sakaki gave me an incredulous look, before he started laughing, the humor of the situation apparently enough to overcome the enormous dramatic tension which had lingered.

After all, there weren't many people stupid enough to call one of the most powerful fighters in the world a whore.

"Shirahama-kun," Kushinada began, her voice seemingly unaffected by the fact that she was currently choking a dismembered torso with a stick. "My nusa seems to be ineffective in this instance. Do you know why?"

"It's Christian," I informed her, not wanting to be to direct when mentioning the specific weaknesses of a vampire. Instead, I just held up my cross, the sharpened silver glistening in the darkness. "Think something more like this."

"I see," Kushinada nodded, once more accepting my experience graciously. "In that case." Without another word, she pulled the nusa free, reversed it in her grip, and then shoved the wooden handle into the things throat, piercing through its Adam's apple and voice box without another word.

"Shit!" Takeda swore, the sudden and completely unexpected violence having caught him by surprise.

"That's one way to shut it up," I simply noted, approaching the creature. It would be far easier to transport it if the thing couldn't start shouting at an inopportune moment and gather more attention while I was trying to bring it back to my lair.

"Would you be interested in selling your current tool?" Kushinada addressed me, still watching with cold eyes as the thing squirmed. The weapon in its throat would do nothing but stop it from breathing. For a vampire, while painful and uncomfortable it was in no way a lethal wound.

"Well," I began, eying the cross carefully. It might be time for me to track down a new one, seeing as how the battle damage was starting to accumulate on my current weapon. "If you throw in the its limbs, I'll trade it for your nusa." Even if it wasn't effective against vampires in particular, it was still a holy tool, and if the change in Kushinada's attire and her recent interest in the Nightworld was anything to judge by then it seemed likely that it just might be a consecrated one as well.

"That is an acceptable deal," Kushinada nodded, once more flickering as that godlike speed of hers made her vanish from sight only to reappear as though she had never left, the creature's limbs cradled in her arm. Carefully, I began stretching the last link binding the cross to the chain in order to separate the two properly.

"Kenichi," it was Niijima's voice that caught my attention then, and I glanced at him even as I continued my task in preparing my end of the deal with Kushinada. "Are you really going then?"

It was the seriousness in his tone which gave me pause, the usually maniacal alien standing still, watching me with those all seeing eyes of his. Surprisingly, I could make no condemnation in his gaze, no betrayal. He was simply watching me, waiting for my response to his question.

"Yes," I nodded. Niijima closed his eyes for a second. Then he opened them, and nodded once.

"Good luck, weak legs," he told me, using the old nickname he had for me back when I had still been a bullied repeater freshmen.

"Oi, alien," Ukita snapped, wheeling to face the leader of Shinpaku, disbelief in his face. "You can't be serious…"

"Our friend is going to help someone," Niijima simply stated. Idly, he began to dig into his ear with his pinky, a show of unconcern at the way things are shaping up. "Someone he thought he couldn't help before, someone he wants to help now. He's willing to do anything to do it. If it means that much to him, then do we have a right to stop him? As his friends, shouldn't we support his decision?"

"But…" Takeda hissed, still staring at the sight of the mutilated vampire. "But like this?"

Wordlessly, I studied Niijima for a moment, then my gaze extended, taking in the rest of all the gathered young men and women who had come out here, desperately hoping to have the chance to help what they thought was a comrade in need.

"You all are good friends," I finally concluded, before my eyes turned back to the vampire. I handed the blood stained cross to Kushinada. Wrapping the gathered limbs in the chain that had been attached to it, I tied off the bundle. "I'm sorry I couldn't be a better one in return."

With the bundle of body parts secured, I reached down, and once more secured the vampire in my grip around its neck. The thing glared at me, unable to do anything in response to my manhandling, not even able to complain about it now that it had learned the hard way not to mouth off to Kushinada.

As I turned to leave, one last voice made me pause.

"Kenichi-san," Miu muttered, and from the corner of my eye I could see the way the still injured girl forced herself from her prone position, rolling until she could kneel, and then forcing herself even further until she could stand. She couldn't straighten all the way, arms still wrapped around her chest.

Around the wounds I had given her.

My Seikuken fluttered again, but I clamped down on it, forcing it to remain.

"Was this what it felt like?" she panted, and even in the Seikuken I worried at the effort it seemed to be taking her to breathe. Had I cracked one of her ribs when I had attacked her? Was she going to be alright? "Was this what it felt like before, when you saw me on the back of Kano Sho's bike?" she asked, and there was pain in her voice that had nothing to do with her injuries. "Was that why you tried so hard to stop me from going with him? If so, then I'm sorry, Kenichi-san," she sniffed, but gave me a watery grin even as tears welled up in her eyes. "I didn't realize how much it would hurt to see the one you care about go to someone else."

I remembered that time, when the two of us had gone to visit the grave of her mother. I had taken her to a botanical garden to try and get her mind off her loss. I had been worried that it would be uncool back then, but she seemed to have liked it despite the fact that it was just plants.

Then I had lost sight of her, and when I found her it was to see her about to drive off with another man. I hadn't known the situation then, that he was someone who had knowledge of her still missing father, that she was willing to do anything, even go with a stranger whom she had never met before, in order to find out the truth. All I had known was that the girl I had been with was leaving with someone else without so much as a word to me.

It had hurt, but I had pushed through that, perhaps selfishly, but I had fought for the girl I had liked, whom had inspired me so much back then.

And now I was leaving to go to help another woman, someone whom I was willing to do anything to aid. And in her current state, Miu couldn't do what I had done for her then.

It seemed all debts really were repaid, in one way or another.

"You stopped me then, Kenichi-san," Miu continued, then coughed, a fleck of blood appearing on her lips as she quickly brought one hand up to cover her mouth. I saw it though. It was me who had made that blood appear. "Just like you stopped me back in Tirat. I won't give up, Kenichi-san!" Her voice rose, as she made her oath. "I'll find a way to help you, somehow! I won't let anything stop me! Do you hear me, Kenichi-san! Just like there are words you want to say but can't yet, I have something I want to say too! Once you're back, and safe, then I'll say them! But I won't just let you disappear!"

All debts were repaid. What a sick joke.

It took everything I had to walk away from Miu as she called out to me. But in the end, that's what I did. I had sworn that one day I would be strong enough to protect her.

I had failed that oath. Instead, I was the reason she was coughing up blood in a dark alley.

But before all of this, I had sworn to another that if tomorrow they died then I would die too, and if today they lived then so would I.

I had thought I had failed that oath. Now I had a chance to make that one at least right.

This time I at least noticed when the blood began to leak from my eyes as I left.

*Scene Break*

The Noble Minds Tutorial School.

Once, long ago, I had woken up from death in that place. I had fought for my humanity there. Afterwards, I had helped pay off my debt to my savior there. Once he had left, I would frequently find myself going there, back when the others were still alive for any number of reasons. It was just a place I felt calm in, someplace comforting and familiar.

Even if it was a rusted out decrepit hulk that should have been condemned years ago.

It had once been a preparatory school, but when hard economic times came, it had eventually gone under and been abandoned. It had been gone so long, that rot and ruin had started to take its toll on the old school. There were places in there were walls had fallen down, where the ceiling and floor had collapsed. There were stairs that led to nowhere, and classrooms that now only held rubble.

It had been abandoned so long that vegetation had started to grow in it; most notably, the giant tree which had sprung up, pushing its way out of the very roof of the old school.

This place had always been comforting to me for some reason. It was no surprise that once I couldn't return to Ryouzanpaku or my home that it was this place I eventually ended up settling in.

It wasn't like there was anyone else left alive who knew of my connection to it.

Back in the old days, it was always the fourth story that I tended to gravitate to. It was in one of those classrooms that I had been reborn as a vampire, where my savior Oshino Meme had made his home like some sort of itinerant priest or aloha bum. I had many fond memories of the fourth floor.

Now, it was the basement that I made my way to. There was something about the dark yet spacious confines, the rubble of various stored away school supplies interspersed with open spaces where important things had once been stored only to be removed once the school closed that called to me.

More than that, it was private. No searching eyes could find me here.

I didn't speak when I arrived, close to dawn. I had had to stick to the shadows and back alleys in order to keep anyone from seeing me carrying my grisly parcels. At times, I had to back track and use the sewers in order to avoid detection.

Still, once I finally returned, there just didn't seem to be a reason to speak anymore. It felt like there were no words left in me. The calm of the Seikuken remained, but it had to stay for now.

I still could feel my buried emotions, and I don't think that the scream I had been forced to cut off was over yet. It would take a long time until that dangerous thing had calmed.

So instead, without words or any particularly significant action, the moment I returned to the Noble Minds basement, I unceremoniously tossed the still muted vampire to a corner, only taking the time to make sure the nusa remained undamaged in its grisly resting place.

Then, unwrapping one of the vampire's limbs, an arm to start with, I just as unceremoniously brought it to my mouth and bit down on it, sinking my teeth into its flesh.

My teeth were too blunt, and even though the canines were sharper than a normal human's, they still weren't sharp enough to pierce through the flesh of the limb easily. In order to break the skin properly, I had to chew on it a bit first. The flesh was cool, none of the taste of salt or sweat that might be found on a normal human's skin, but the taste of the meat I could only assume was the same.

I didn't press any further, once the protective layer of skin had been penetrated. Instead, I focused on doing my best to draw out what I really wanted from this grisly task:

The vampire's blood.

Long ago, when I had still been a vampire desperately fighting to return to being a human, Shinobu, then Kiss Shot, had warned me never to let another vampire drink my blood. For most vampires, this was the most surefire means of exorcising them. A vampire's power resolved around their blood, after all, and if one blood sucker ingests the blood of a different blood sucker than that blood and their strength would be theirs from then on.

That was the normal way it was, for all kinds of vampires. But for me, things were a little different. I had been the subordinate of Kiss Shot Acerola Orion Hearts Under Blade, whom was called the Kai Killer.

She hadn't gotten that name just because she had killed a few abnormalities that had gotten in her way in the past. Rather, Kiss Shot had at times actively hunted other types of Kai before. She did that because unlike other vampires, it wasn't just her own species she could drain power from. I'm not sure if it was because she was so powerful as a vampire that she could drain other Kai of the energies, or if she had become so powerful because she could drain them, but in the centuries of her life Kiss Shot had absorbed many different types of Kai, eating probably as many of them as she had humans in her time.

When my vampiric power had gone into dormancy, and I had returned only to a mostly human state, I had thought that all my powers except for my regeneration had been lost to me. Once the events which had supposedly severed my ties with the Nightworld had occurred, I had thought that even that ability was gone.

What the Tamamo-no-Mae had proven to me was that I had been wrong. It hadn't been they were gone, it was just that they had been so drastically reduced as to be near nonexistent. After she had whispered those poisoned words into my ear, she had proven it by kissing me and forcing me to drink some of her own blood, willingly given.

And with her blood had come some of her power, strengthening my inhuman side.

It made me shudder at times to think of just how strong the Tamamo-no-Mae must be if only a mouthful of her blood, and only the smallest fraction of that blood which my reduced abilities had been able to absorb, had been enough to effectively jump start my inhuman abilities from near absolute dormancy to being visually observable.

But that wasn't enough. Not yet. Not for what I planned to do.

What I had told the others about Shinobu's condition had been true, in a sense. She was still alive, helpless and unable to respond. I'm not sure if the state she was in now would be called a coma, or just sleep, but in the end it was still a state that she needed to be awakened from. So far I had determined that there were three keys needed to properly wake her up again, and the most important of that key was power.

And so, in order to gain that strength, I hunted. I wasn't certain if any other type of Kai might give me greater boosts in strength, but I also wasn't certain if any of the other Kai might deserve to be drained like that. Vampires though, vampires I could reasonably assume would most likely deserve what I would do to them.

Still, if it was that easy then I would have already been done by now.

I had managed to squeeze maybe a third of the blood from the already partially drained limb when it happened. Even if I was still somewhat a vampire at the moment, I was still mostly human, even now. And humans just weren't meant to drink blood, not in this kind of quantity.

So pulling my mouth free from the limb I turned to the side, hunching over on all fours, and vomited out most of what I had just swallowed. The coppery fluid tasted just as bad coming up as it had going down. It took me three good heaves before my stomach had emptied itself. Panting, I wiped my mouth, spitting to clear the taste of bile from it.

Once I was sure that I wouldn't throw up anymore, I turned back to the limb and repeated the process.

The next time I puked, just a little less came up then before.

I could only absorb a little bit at a time for now, but each time I drank it was a little more than the time before, if only by a fraction. Slowly, my strength was growing. No, more than my strength, my ability to utilize that strength also was increasing. Hunting and attacking creatures that might indeed prey on humans but still had done me no harm, drinking their blood, repeating the process: that wasn't the kind of thing a normal person would do. Most would find the very thought horrifying. Hell, I thought it was disgusting.

But I was still doing it.

To be a monster, you needed to act like a monster, after all.

When the first limb was completely drained of blood, already beginning to flake away and dissolve with the energies that had sustained it removed, I held up my own arm, pulling my coat back so I could look at my bare skin. In the depths of the Seikuken, I focused, willing for a change to happen.

Under my skin, I could feel something move at my will, the flesh distending and writhing as the power I had absorbed continued to more and more effectively manipulate my flesh to my will. No, not just the power, but the increase in my inhuman sensibility as well.

After tonight, I felt much less like person and much more like a monster.

"Still not enough," I noted to myself, letting the changes in my flesh settle down. I glanced at where the vampire lay, helpless to do anything but watch as I continued my grisly work. For the first time since I had tracked it down, it seemed scared, no, terrified.

It knew what I meant to do to it, after all.

I had promised I wasn't going to kill it. Instead, I was going to drink all but the last drop of its blood. With so much of its power gone it wouldn't be able to use any of its normal abilities. It would barely be able to maintain its physical shape, most likely reverting to something smaller and easier to sustain. It wouldn't even be able to feed, after I had taken so much of its blood.

And then I would let it go. It would most likely starve to death at that point, but it wouldn't be me that killed it. Not directly.

Okay, so maybe I did have a talent for sophistry.

I turned back to the remaining collection of limbs I still had to drink. This time, it was a little easier to penetrate the skin and find the blood left within the other arm.

And so I drank until I vomited blood.

Then I did it again.

And again.

And again.

…

I was so tired.


	5. Chapter 5

Honor Thy Masters

_Author's Notes: So, once again, after having finished Don't Look, I found myself feeling particularly lazy for a bit. That tends to happen after I complete a work, so it didn't bother me at first, but when it started dragging on I decided it was time to do something about it._

_So, much like the first chapter, a massive free write commenced, which then turned into Honor Thy Masters Five._

_Tada!_

_Anyway, second to last chapter here, and its a bit of a strange one. I'm honestly not sure if I like how it turned out._

_First off:_

_*Spoiler Alert*_

_Ever since I read Sandman, I had always been interested in the idea of a person which simultaneously existed as a place. That would be Fiddler Green in the old Sandman series. Because of that, and loosely inspired by Type Moon's Forest of Einnashe, I decided to explore that concept. Hence, Kenichi's progression. It's a little out of left field, but I tried to hint at it coming in the earlier chapters, so I decided to go with it._

_The Enju no Jashin is another old Japanese monster, and added mostly so that this whole chapter wouldn't just be about Kenichi and actually have some real legend in it, as well as to allow for the conversation with the obliging Kenichi to progress long enough._

_Now, Shigure. I kind of went out on a limb here, but I don't think that the limb is that strange of one. She has proven to be very interested in Kenichi in the past, enough so that even Miu had doubts for a bit. Add in her lack of experience with humans, and her very old fashioned upbringing, I could actually see her request to Akisame being like I made it. Her father did say that she liked him a lot, after all._

_The final tricky part, is of course Shinobu. More of the Monogatari series has been translated, and I feel I have a much better grasp of her character now than I did when I was writing 'Those who love Monsters'. I tried to pull from the books and Nisemonogatari to help characterize her, but since the Kizumonogatari movie still hasn't come out... grumble grumble grumble stupid delays grumble... I kind of had to wing her a bit. She does tend to be a pretty crude and graphic person, so I think I managed to make her interesting a bit. For those unfamiliar with her character, I hope the suspense I tried building with the rest of Shinpaku paid off in a 'wait, what?' moment._

_*End Spoilers*_

_And so, I present chapter 5, and hope you all enjoy it. No idea when the next chapter will come out, but come out it will!_

_Now, the question to ask myself is get back to In Flight or Erogame Protagonist. Decisions, decisions, decisions._

_*Story Start*_

It was my friends that helped bring me back from the abyss that nearly consumed me.

And I don't think I will ever be able to thank them enough for it.

It was the voices, familiar voices, which first penetrated the haze of my thoughts. Wearily, like a mammoth struggling with a tar pit desperate to consume it, the sounds reached my ears and I found myself almost reluctantly giving them attention.

"Oi, Alien," my muddled thoughts wearily determined that this was Ukita speaking, sounding a little put off about something. "Are you sure this is the place?"

"Definitely," there could be only one that would respond to a name like 'alien', and I could identify this speaker as most likely being Niijima. "After all my research, it seems that this is almost certainly it."

"Like we haven't already heard that before," a new voice joined in, and I wondered idly just how Takeda had been doing. He didn't sound happy. "I can't believe you just pretended to give up. I actually thought you might be showing some genuine friendship for a second there. Just backing off so you could look up some names…" Takeda seemed a bit less disgusted by his words, but he definitely wasn't overjoyed in them. "And even when you do, look how long it took you to get any results!"

"Look," Niijima sounded annoyed, but strangely resigned as well. "Do you have any idea how many Hanekawas there are in Tokyo? Kanbarus are pretty common too, for that matter. Heck, even Senjogahara was a lot more common than I thought it would be. It took all the information gathering forces of the Shinpaku Alliance to manage to get this together, and if you don't like it…"

"Oi, oi," this voice, the last time I had heard it, had filled me with dread. This time, I could only barely greet the presence of Sakaki with anything more than curiosity. "Enough. The fact that we have leads at all is a good thing, even if they're false ones. All we gotta do is kick over enough anthills, and eventually something will pop up."

"Is it just me," Kisara sounded grumpy about something as well, and from the tone of her voice she was apparently whispering to someone without intending anyone but the one she was addressing to hear her, "or are kiddo's Masters over there kinda, well, not that bright?"

She must have been whispering pretty softly if she would say something like that around Sakaki, but I caught it anyway.

Considering where they were at the moment, it would have been stranger for me NOT to have heard it.

"Right place or wrong place," Takeda broke back in, and the boxer sounded frustrated as he spoke. "Even if we do manage to find him, what then? Are we really going to take this 'Nightworld' stuff seriously? I mean, really? Ghosts and monsters? Do things like that even exist?" Here, Takeda's voice changed again, sounding hostile as he continued. "Do we really need someone like her along?"

"Whether you want me or not," I was surprised to hear a note of hostility in Chikage's voice, but on further reflection I decided that hearing her voice at all was probably pretty unusual, "my own Master had required me to be here."

"For all we know it was you Yomi that made him do something like this!" Takeda spat back, "Your Master seemed pretty interested back then too!"

I noted objectively that he was probably being quite unfair. I mean, yeah, it was actually a pretty real possibility that I had been forced or manipulated by the shadowy league of evilness which was the organization which hoped for a new war in order to showcase their abilities, but, well…

Chikage was a girl, after all. It wasn't right to attack girls like that!

But wait. That brought a strange thought to my mind. Hazily, I tried to recall why it did so.

Had I been involved in something to do with that idea? It was so hard to remember…

"It is… real."

This voice sent another very slow and barely noticeable jolt through my uncollected consciousness. The fact that the bolt seemed to actually continue until it reached my full understanding seemed to indicate that it was important, so I found myself waiting with childish eagerness until I understood why it affected me.

Ah. That's right! That voice belonged to Shigure-san!

Now. Who was that again?

"The Nightworld is… real," my youngest Master continued, and I remembered that at some point I could actually interpret the deadpan tone of the speaker. "If we want… any chance of success… then we need someone like… her."

"Well even if we need someone like her, then that means it doesn't have to be her specifically!" Takeda snapped, then seemed to think better of his tone. "Can't we use someone better? There's no way that you and Yomi teamed up for something like this before!"

"Back then it was… Kenichi who knew everything," Shigure responded slowly, as slow as I was slowly beginning to recall her to be.

Wait. Kenichi. That name was familiar too…

"And my Master has looked," Chikage broke in too, the young girl's voice cold as she addressed the boxer. "The fact is, there is no one better than Band-Aid for this kind of thing. He's one of the top four specialists in Japan, and the other three aren't the type to get involved with this kind of thing."

"Lalala," this voice was melodic enough that my gradually quickening thoughts were able to identify it as Siegfried once more. "That Kenichi had kept such talents hidden! I feel a melody coming!"

Kenichi, Kenichi. Who was that…

Wait. Wasn't I Kenichi?

"I guess that's another thing I can complement him on, when we finally rescue him."

This voice, sounding so sad and determined, yet so familiar and welcome, I was able to identify instantly.

"Miu," I murmured. Silence greeted my single word, lasting only a moment before it was broken by exciting shouting.

"Kenichi!" Sakaki and Miu both shouted in unison, Miu adding on her customary –kun as well.

"Holy shit! The Alien did it!" Ukita's voice broke in as well, the wrestler sounding exited and I could imagine the former delinquent clenching both fists in excitement.

"Kenichi!" It was Thor this time, and as each voice joined in, identifying more of the intruders the quicker I was able to identify them, my thoughts quickening slowly. "Just hold on! We're going to get you out of here!"

"Get me out?" I repeated, slowly trying to understand what was being said. "But why would I want to get out? I want to be here."

"Damn," Sakaki muttered, and I wasn't certain if he was swearing in response to me or something else. "Where is his voice coming from? And what's with all these vines!"

"I can't… find him either," Shigure added in, her tone speeding up in response to an emotion that I think I might have been able to identify once but found I no longer could. "What do you think… is causing this?"

"I don't know," Chikage responded quickly, even the little Yomi girl sounding as though she was concealing excitement. "I've haven't seen anything like this before."

"Well if you don't know, then guess," Niijima snapped, sounding perturbed by the response. "Why else would we have you here, anyway?"

"Oi," Ukita spoke up again, this time sounding hesitant. "Why don't you take it easy? She's just a girl…"

"Who just so happens to be Yomi. And also is responsible for calling her Master, who kept us from getting to Kenichi in the first place," Niijima coldly pointed out.

"But…" Ukita seemed to lose even more of his enthusiasm, as though the accusations of the Shinpaku Viceroy had managed to strike home somehow. I struggled to recall the specifics of the situation they were talking about, but found myself unable to summon enough effort to really care about it.

"Perhaps an Enju no Jashin," Chikage spoke up instead, sounding stern, little trace of childishness in her voice. "An Evil God of a Pagoda Tree."

"Evil god?" Sakaki repeated, and though the brawler didn't sound too happy with the much smaller child, he didn't seem to have Takeda's obvious hostility either. "So what does that mean?"

"I'm not certain," Chikage still sounded stern despite her confession. "I'm still just a Disciple in these matters, even more so than in the Underworld. If it was Band-aid, then maybe…"

Oh, yeah. Band-aid. Wasn't that what Chikage used to call me?

"The Evil God in the Pagoda Tree was a spirit that inhabited a forest outside of Mt Minobu. During the day, the god was a guardian spirit, but at night it would become an evil god," I helpfully supplied, automatically recalling the legend once it was called to mind. It was getting a bit easier to think now, and I found memories were coming quicker. Was that a good thing? I think it was. "It would demand monetary compensation from anyone who would travel its forest, and if they failed to pay then it would curse them to death. It was eventually exorcised by the son of the god Fudo Myo, and all its wealth returned to those it had extorted from."

I paused, trying to recall anything else about the legend that might be helpful. "Also, it liked to cook and eat people alive," I finally concluded. There. That sounded about right. "Was that what you wanted to know?" I asked as silence only greeted my explanation.

"Wow," Kisara finally whistled, sounding impressed. "I guess maybe Boya really is good at this kind of thing."

"Shigure," Sakaki seemed less interested in my story telling skills, and more focused on something else entirely. "Can you tell where his voice is coming from? I just can't seem to narrow it down."

"It sounds like… it's coming from everywhere," Shigure answered back instantly. I guess those two were more interested in finding me than in the story. I found it vaguely disappointing, but decided not to mention it.

"So what does something like an evil god want with Kenichi?" Takeda demanded, and I wondered if he was addressing me, or someone else. When Chikage spoke in response, I assumed it was her, and let her take the answer.

"There's no way of knowing," the tiny Miko responded, sounding nearly as focused as my Masters were. "But since its daylight, it's most likely that it isn't too dangerous at the moment."

"Good," Miu declared, her voice firm. "Then we need to find Kenichi before the sun sets. That gives us at least four hours! It's good that we got here when we did!"

"But why do you need to find me?" I wondered, trying to understand what was going on but still not able to think clearly enough to do so. Still, at least memories seemed to be returning better now.

At least, that's what I thought, until one in particular struck me.

The one of where I had last seen Miu, her blood on her lips from where my attack had nearly crushed her rib cage.

"So we can rescue you, you idiot," Takeda snapped in response to my question. When he continued, I got the impression he wasn't addressing me anymore. "Now, where the hell is he? Come on, it can't be that hard to track him down. He has to be close if we can hear each other!"

"I'm… back," Shigure spoke, though I hadn't realized that she had even left. "He's not… nearby."

"The voice does sound like its coming from everywhere," Sakaki growled. "Is this one of those Kai things you were talking about?"

"Yes," I answered in turn, though at the same time Chikage spoke as well with a,"I don't know!"

"Wait, wait, wait a second," it was Niijima this time, and the rest of the voices paused in response to his interjection. "Kenichi," he began, speaking slowly as he did so. "Didn't you say you didn't want to be rescued? If so, then why are you answering our questions?"

"Because you keep asking them," I responded, feeling confusion. If someone asks a question, aren't you supposed to answer them? Wasn't that the way things went? Maybe my memories were a bit less stable than I thought they were.

"So if I were to ask you to rank the breast sizes of Shigure, Miu, and Kisara in order of biggest to smallest, would you be honest?" Niijima's question was greeted by a squawk from the Tae Kwon Doist, the cat loving Kisara no doubt not being happy to have her chest brought up by the evil alien.

"Shigure, Miu, and then Kisara," I answered the question honestly, this time getting a squeak from Miu as well.

"What do you think you're doing, Haruo-kun!" Miu demanded, and judging from the flurry of 'whooshing' noises it sounded like Niijima was employing one of his weird alien dodging skills.

"Did you hear that?" Niijima on the other hand seemed absolutely ecstatic about something. "He answered completely honestly! Even when it was an embarrassing question that he never would have responded to normally! Do you know what that means?"

"Wait," Sakaki seemed eager all of a sudden as well, apparently picking up what the Shinpaku Aliance Commander was implying. "You don't mean…"

"Yes! Exactly," Niijima's response seemed to bring excited whispers from the rest, but they were drowned out he continued eagerly. "Now, quick Kenichi! What are the account numbers and passwords to all of your financial…"

"That's not important right now, you Alien!" Ukita in turn drowned out the rest of Niijima's question, and the sound of scuffling only increased.

"So why is that important at all?" Kisara demanded, sounding more concerned over the discussion of her chest than whatever point Niijima had raised.

"Because with this we can have Kenichi's help in dealing with this situation," Freya spoke up for the first time, the cool headed spear user addressing her former subordinates questions. Despite the revelation that they could now apparently exploit me for information at will, the dark skinned girl did not seem as excited as the others. "A better questions is just what state Kenichi-kun is in if he's so willing to give out information."

"Good point," Sakaki seemed a lot less enthused then he had been a second ago. "Sometimes after training if he gets a little punch drunk he gets like this, but if it's the results of him being drugged or something, than we just need to hurry up more." My Master's voice changed as he raised it, no longer apparently addressing the rest of the group but me directly. "Oi, Midget. If we wanted to find this evil god of a whatever it is tree, then where would we look?"

"In a tree," I responded, wondering why he even needed to ask such a ridiculously obvious question, but responding dutifully anyway.

"The roof!" Miu gasped, excitement in her tone as she made the connection. I recalled the great tree which had somehow managed to find purchase on the roof of the Noble Minds Tutorial High School, and how yes, that would be an obvious place to look for a Enju no Jashin.

"We have to go fast," Sakaki added, sounding excited. A loud crashing noise indicated that when Sakaki meant 'fast' he most likely also was using the 'straightest distance between two points' philosophy where things like other people, walls, large boulders, and other generally immovable objects tended to get demolished for being in his way.

Unexpectedly, the single crash was the only one, indicating that he was at least taking his time.

"Oi," the brawler spoke up, sounding unnerved, "that isn't sap coming out of that vine, is it?"

"Whoa!" Kisara sounded disgusted as she noticed what it was that had caught Sakaki's eyes. "Is that blood?"

"Please, Sakaki-donno," Chikage spoke up, sounding like she was trying her best to chastise the older and more powerful man politely, where if it was anyone else she would have already started insulting them. "We are dealing with a Kai. Perhaps a little more discretion might be advised?"

"You might be on to something, super-midget," the apparent sight of foliage dripping with the fluids usually found in animals seemed to have unnerved the brawler a bit, as no further explosions occurred. "Looks like we might have to take the long way."

"Am I the only one focusing on the important matter here?" Niijima demanded, though now his voice's position had changed.

"What could be more important than getting Kenichi's fat out of the fryer?" Takeda demanded, my friend still seeming to be short tempered at the commander.

"The fact that we can ask Kenichi anything right now, and he'll answer!" Niijima elaborated with exasperation in his voice. "Embarrassing secrets, blackmail, anything we want to know!"

"You are the worst friend ever," Kisara deadpanned, sounding like she didn't think the observation needed to be voiced, but saying it anyway.

"Lalala," Sigfried chimed in. "My Demon Lord, perhaps it would be better to refrain from such things until Kenichi is properly secured!"

"Oh come on," Niijima sighed, sounding disappointed. "I can't be the only one who wants to know something. Doesn't anyone else want to know?"

"Wanting to know or not," Freya sounded stern, "none of us are going to take abuse a comrades trust when he what very well could be drugged or compelled to…"

"Who is… Shinobu?" Shigure cut off the staff user as the youngest of my Masters shamelessly took advantage of the situation.

"Shigure-san!" Miu yelped, sounding shocked as the weapon user did exactly like Niijima was going to, though probably in a way which would cause me considerable financial distress in the future.

Though, if my memories indicated properly, this was most likely far more cruel a path than my bad friend's petty endeavors.

"Shinobu Oshino is the name given to the vampire Kiss Shot Acerola Orion Hearts Under Blades, the Cold-blooded, Hot-blooded, Iron-blooded vampire, the Kai Killer," I responded dutifully.

"Vampire," Kisara managed to catch that particular word out of the rest of Kiss Shot's old titles. "Why does the kiddo know a vampire?" she demanded, though I wasn't certain if she was addressing me, one of her companions, or if the question was just rhetorical. Never the less, I had an answer to that question.

"Because she was the one who killed me, and then turned me into a vampire myself for a bit."

The outrageousness of my statement seemed to shock the group as a whole into silence for a moment. Finally, it was Shigure, who was more aware then most about my past and the Nightworld in general, who asked the next question. "For… a bit?"

"I got better," I assured her. It must be confusing to think of vampirism as a temporary state. "Mostly," I added.

"How the hell does someone 'get better' from being a vampire?" Takeda demanded, disbelief obvious in his voice. "No, more than that, are we supposed to believe that vampires are even real?"

"Yes," I obediently answered his question. I briefly wondered if he was being rhetorical or not, but the thought faded soon enough. "You've met one before, the last time we met…"

I trailed off, and flashes of what were probably memories of the time coming to me. The dismembered vampire, the maimed Kushinada, the bleeding Miu…

Miu. Bleeding. Because of me.

"So that was why Kenichi-san was attacking the other man!" Miu chimed, her voice excited even as the memory came back to me. "If it was a vampire…"

"When it tried to bite you, he must have been trying to keep you from being hurt or something," Niijima also seemed to be connecting certain events, this new information apparently allowing them to better analyze my actions from before.

"There are no such things as vampires!" Takeda snapped, and it sounded like the boxer was still not ready to believe in the existence of the supernatural, not willing to accept the truth. That was fine. It was best he didn't, that none of them did. They shouldn't be involved in the Nightworld, after all.

Still, the memory of my attack on Miu lingered, and even in my disassociated state, shame and concern made themselves known.

"Miu," I began, this time not waiting to answer a question. "Are you alright? I hit you so hard last week… Were the Masters able to heal you so quickly?"

I meant my question to be a simple one, but for some reason an answer wasn't forth coming.

"Last week?" it was Kisara who finally spoke up, not Miu. "Kiddo, that was two months ago!"

"Oh," I murmured. The loss of time seemed like it should be important to me, like it should be relevant in some way. However, the best I could manage was curiosity. "That would be enough time to heal then…"

"Shit," Sakaki swore, and I could tell from his tone that he was getting angry again, the kind of angry he usually reserved for when someone threatened Miu or I. "Pick up the pace," he ordered, probably to the rest of his group.

"He must have been drugged pretty heavily if he's lost that much time," Niijima noted, the Alien's voice unusually serious for him. "Will you guys at Ryouzanpaku be able to help with that kind of thing?"

"If it's the meddling moustache, probably," Sakaki confirmed, still sounding stern. The positions of their voices were changing quicker now, heading upwards. "And if he can't, Ma will probably have something that can fix him up."

"What happened… when she killed you?" Shigure spoke up again, and despite the concern that the rest of the group was showing for my lost time, it seemed she had chosen to focus on her own topic.

"Shigure-san!" Miu's voice was stern as she addressed the older woman. "Shouldn't we be more focused on helping Kenichi-kun first?"

"She had been attacked," I answered the first question obediently, deciding to respond in the order they had been asked. "Three of the strongest vampire exorcists had managed to ambush her, and though she got away they had torn off all her limbs and ripped out her heart. She was dying, and needed blood to recover." I then moved on to address Miu's question. "And no, you don't need to focus on helping me. I don't need any help."

"Bullshit," Sakaki muttered, most likely in response to my assertion that I was fine. However, the rest of the group seemed to have taken interest more in the story that Shigure was pulling from me.

"Ripped out her heart?" Unusually, it was the cool Freya who voiced her shock. "How does someone live through something like that long enough to attack someone else?"

"My Master has been studying vampires lately," Chikage spoke up, voicing her own knowledge on the species. The girl was always a bit reserved when she was in Yami mode, but now she sounded even more withdrawn than normal. I wondered if she was once more looking like she did whenever I had been called on to explain the Nightworld to her. "They have proven to be unusually resilient to injury."

"The last vampire we came across did seem fine even without his limbs," Niijima noted, also focusing on the story. "It didn't even seem in pain when the burned lady stabbed her."

"Stop that!" Takeda snapped at the rest, still sounding frustrated. "There is no such thing as vampires!"

"But if it was that injured, lalala," Siegfried apparently ignored the boxers continued denial. It sounded like most of the group had already moved on to accepting my story as true, for now at least. "How did it manage to ambush Kenichi-san? He should have been able to escape?"

"She didn't ambush me," I explained dutifully. "She asked me for my blood and I gave it."

"Never mind… that," Shigure broke in, no doubt remembering my previous explanation of what had happened when I died for the first time. "What happened, after?"

"After, rather than finishing me, she let me change," I continued. "And then she tasked me with the recovery of her limbs so she could heal herself fully. She promised me that when she was at her full power, she would be able to make me human again."

"Wait, so after she kills you, she makes you fight the same people who nearly killed her?" Kisara noted, disbelief in her tone. "That's insane! And how the hell do we get to the roof?" she continued, sounding frustrated about trying to navigate the broken down school.

"Yes," I answered her question. "I managed to find someone to help negotiate, and in the end I only had to fight them one on one, but I eventually managed to retrieve all of Shinobu's pieces. And I'm not sure how to get to the roof. I don't really know where you are."

"The vines seem to be thinning," Sakaki muttered, "Does that mean we're getting closer?"

"Yes," I told him dutifully.

"So you had to fight off a bunch of vampire hunters?" Miu asked, concern in her voice. "But Kenichi-san," she continued, sounding worried about something. "Wasn't that before you started training at Ryouzanpaku? How could you win, if you didn't know how to fight back then?"

"Because my Master was Kiss Shot Acerola Orion Hearts Under Blades," I explained. "The strongest of the vampires, the oldest of her species, a creature so powerful that even the gods feared her. The only reason she herself wasn't worshipped as one as well was because she did not want to be. Even as a newborn subordinate, I was still more powerful back than then most Master martial artists. It was easy to win, especially one on one."

"Oh come on!" Takeda was the first to react to that, snapping as his frustration apparently came to a head. "Like we're supposed to believe something like that! There are no such things as vampires!"

"That does seem pretty outrageous, midget," Sakaki also didn't seem to believe my claim, though there was doubt in his voice.

"Don't be so sure," it was Chikage who came to my defense for some reason. "Even my Master has heard that name before. If the legends about the Hearts Under Blades are true…"

"Then what… happened?" Just like before, it was Shigure who interrupted the growing debate. Slowly, even in my confused state, I began to grow uncomfortable over her strange single-mindedness. Was the weapon Mistress always this… intrusive?

I couldn't quite remember.

"Shinobu regained her power, but when the time came, I couldn't go back to being completely human," I still answered her question though. That's what you're supposed to do when someone asks, wasn't it?

"Why not?" For all that Niijima had originally wanted to gather blackmail, the Alien sounded just as focused on my history as Shigure was.

"I couldn't do it," I told him. For some reason, I didn't want to say any more than that.

"Well, we can get the rest of the answers later!" Sakaki declared, triumph in his voice. "We're here!"

"Um," Ukita chimed in then, and from the sound of their voices it seemed like they were finally at the roof. "Now what?"

"Good question," Sakaki sounded a little deflated at the judo user's question. "That's the tree over there, but I don't see anything that looks like a god?"

"Band-Aid," Chikage spoke up, addressing me directly. "How do we exorcise an Enju no Jashin?"

"The best way to destroy them completely is a cleansing ritual performed by a priest," I instructed her. "I don't know any of those though. After that, either defeat the god itself in combat, or just destroy its tree. If it loses its home, it will leave to search for another one."

"Finally!" Sakaki was probably grinning after I described the procedure for him. "I was just waiting for something to punch… Shigure!"

His tone changed as right after he completed the word 'punch' an enormous cracking sound occurred. He sounded annoyed by something.

"I had… dibs," Shigure said slowly, and I realized that she must have beaten Sakaki to the tree.

"But that's not fair!" Sakaki sounded a lot like a petulant child at the moment. "I wanted to be the one to break the tree in half!"

"Sakaki-san, Shigure-san," Miu interrupted, sounding very much like a scolding mother as well at the moment, "Shouldn't we be focused on finding Kenichi-san? Who knows what state he's in!"

"Right, right," I could almost imagine Sakaki rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. "So, now what?"

"Kenichi," Niijima seemed ready to step up and take charge. "Now that the evil god is gone, how do we find you?"

"'Now that the evil god is gone?'" I repeated, confused by the question. "But there was never an evil go here. How could it be gone?"

Utter silence greeted my proclamation, and I could swear I heard a wind pass through the group.

"But, you said that there was some kind of evil god out here, didn't ya Kiddo?" It was Kisara who finally spoke up after the awkward moment.

"Oh," I repeated, and I felt something like comprehension go through me. "No I didn't," I corrected her. "You all just asked me what to do with an Enju no Jashin. Nobody ever asked me if there was one here."

"Oh for god's sake!" Takeda snapped, sounding equal parts resigned as he was frustrated. "Of course there was no evil god here, because there are no such thing as gods! Now why don't we focus on finding Kenichi so we can get the hell out of here?"

"I don't know," I said slowly, still feeling confusion. "Why don't you?"

"Okay, I thought having Kenichi in a state like this would be profitable," Niijima muttered, sounding frustrated as well now. "I never thought it would be so annoying."

"Um, so if you're not up here, just where are you?" it was Ukita who finally asked what probably should have been the obvious question from the beginning.

"In the basement," I responded.

"Oh this is just getting ridiculous!" Sakaki swore, and despite my slow thoughts I found myself beginning to smile as the short tempered Master let the situation get to him.

"This is starting to feel like we're playing Marco Polo or something," Kisara grumbled as well.

"If the situation were any different, it would probably be funny," Freya at least seemed to think that the situation was humorous in the present, judging from the tone of her voice.

The group as a whole was silent for nearly a minute after that, and I felt myself sinking back into my slumber, when again it was Shigure who spoke up.

"Why couldn't you… go back to being human?"

"Shigure-san," Miu seemed frustrated by the persistence of the older woman. "Is it really the time to pry?"

"Because the only way to go back to being human would be to drink all of Shinobu's blood," I obediently answered the question, but again I found myself hesitating briefly. Even in my state, I didn't like talking about what had happened between Shinobu and I. It didn't feel right.

"Why?" Chikage again was the one to prompt me to continue, though if she was genuinely concerned about my past or if she was just gathering more information on the Nightworld I wasn't sure.

"A vampire's power is in their blood. If a vampire were to take their blood back from the one who changed them, then they can regain their humanity." It was easier to talk about that, then the story, the trivia coming easily to my voice.

"So then all you had to do was drink a little of her blood and you'd have been human again?" Sakaki still seemed doubtful about my story, but he was at least playing along. "Why didn't you do it then?"

"Because it would have killed her," my voice felt a little sharp, as even in my haze the emotions of the time echoed through me. "And I could not kill the woman I had died to save."

"What do you… mean?" Still, Shigure pressed, still she asked, even as the rest of the group seemed shocked to silence by my proclamation.

"When I found Shinobu maimed, she asked me to give my life for her," the words were coming quicker now, still sharp, and I found my attention truly focusing for the first time since the question and answer session started. I was still hazy, but the story was coming back to me clearer, the turmoil of those past events pulling me back from my tiredness. "And I couldn't think of any reason not to back then. Then, when I woke up days later, still existing, I wanted to be human again. She willingly promised me that she would help.

"For the next week we were together, talking, getting to know each other between the fights for her limbs. I got to know her better, and even came to like her. And then came the day that I found her eating the corpse of the victim she had killed for blood, and I realized what it meant to be a vampire. Shinobu was the enemy of humanity, a creature that fed on people to survive, who had done so for centuries.

"And then I realized that was what I was too, and I knew I could never forgive her for what she had done, to all the victims she had had over the years, not just to me."

"This is unreal," Thor managed to murmur, but I was too caught up in reliving the experience to let myself be interrupted.

"I couldn't forgive her for killing, for making me something like her. I was lucky it took so long, but by then I, as a vampire, was starting to get hungry, and I couldn't let myself go any longer. She was willing to let me take my blood back, to be human again, but I would have to take all of her blood to do that, I would have to kill her. She was alright with that. Just like I had been willing to die for her, she was willing to die for me. She had lived a long life, and was ready to rest. But she wasn't an enemy I could fight, or even kill. She was… she was my friend. The days we spent just talking and laughing… I couldn't kill her, even if it was the only chance to be human again. And I couldn't let her go either. She would just have to kill again to survive, and so would I.

"So instead, I did something terrible to her."

I paused, caught in the memory of that fateful night, of that horrible decision, but Shigure would have none of it.

"What did... you do?" she demanded her usually deadpan tone unusually forceful for her.

"I took all but the last drop of her blood," I admitted softly. "It was enough to take me almost all the way back to being human. It left her so weak she couldn't hold her form, couldn't use any of her powers, couldn't even feed on anyone. The only way she could survive was for me to volunteer enough blood to her so she could continue living every other day. And I did. I wouldn't let her die, even if she wanted too, even if she was willing. But I wouldn't let her be free either. What I did, it was like turning her into a pet, declawing and defanging her, neutering her, leaving her incapable of existing without me." I felt a bitter laugh swell up. "And just like I could never forgive her for being a monster, she would never forgive me for destroying her."

"Is it just me, or is kiddo a little scary right now?" Kisara whispered, and I was pretty sure that I wasn't meant to hear her statement, the touch of nerve in her tone barely noticeable.

"Kenichi was always capable of amazing things when he was pressed," Freya noted back, in a tone just as quiet, the cool older girl also seeming disturbed by my confession.

"He wasn't like this back then," Thor chimed in to the quiet conversation. "Most of us here were his enemies once, but I never could have thought that the boy with such clear eyes could have endured this."

"Because he didn't," Takeda's voice was a bit louder, but also obviously hushed. "Kenichi isn't the type for a story like this! It's obvious that these are just hallucinations, probably from whatever he's doped up on right now!"

"But," Miu began, then hesitated. "But for the one who has seen these kinds of things, even if they aren't real, they still feel real." It was the tone of someone who had been there herself, yet another darkness of the legacy left to her by Junazard.

Even as the general consensus of the others seemed to dismiss my story, there was one who wasn't satisfied with the end.

Surprisingly, it wasn't Shigure this time.

"Was it worth it, midget?" Sakaki's voice was unusually solemn for the normally gregarious Master. "Even knowing she would never forgive you, even though you wouldn't forgive her, was it worth it?"

"Yes," my voice was as sure as I could make it, even in my lost state the answer unquestionable to me. "Things changed, we moved on together, and even if without forgiveness, we were happy."

"I knew it," Sakaki muttered to himself, regret thick in his tone. "I knew it, Suzuki…"

So far, I hadn't been much for anything but responding, but perhaps it was the connection that Sakaki and I had as Master and Disciple that let me understand.

"There is someone like that for you, isn't there, Sakaki-sensei?" I asked, and for the first time since the conversation began I shifted, feeling my body as it responded to my own restlessness. "The one you can never forgive: it's Akira Hongou."

"Sakaki-san!" Miu gasped, sounding surprised at my insinuation. "Is it true?"

The brawler was silent for a moment, and when he spoke next it was with his usual cocky tone.

"Well, damn, brat. Tell you what, guess I kind of owe you for the whole spying thing earlier. When we get you back up, I'll tell you about three men of valor sometime over a bowl of ramen."

"Saka… ki," Shigure seemed curious, and I got the impression that even she as a fellow Master and member of Ryouzanpaku didn't know the story that Sakaki was promising me.

"No, I ain't gonna tell you Shigure," Sakaki seemed exasperated by something. "Even if you give me the puppy dog eyes!"

"Those are puppy dog eyes?" Ukita sounded disbelieving at that.

"I don't understand," Miu seemed frustrated by the turn in the conversation. I could imagine her pout as she crossed her arms, giving her own puppy dog eyes as she jutted her lower lip. "How can you be close to someone if you never forgive them! How can someone you hate be so important?"

"It's not that simple, Miu," Sakaki seemed oddly calm despite the conversation. "There are relationships out there more complicated than you can imagine. Just how like you can be closer to a rival than to a friend, or hate someone so much you can't be without them, or love someone so much you can't be near them. Sometimes there are people like that out there."

It was the truth, and I don't think that anyone here besides Sakaki and I really understood that, even including Shigure. How could I explain my relationship to Shinobu? The teasing, light hearted and irreverent vampire who had lived in my shadow, dispensing wisdom and wit, playing pranks and indulging in lewd teasing interchangeably at her own whimsy? What it was like to have someone that close to you?

It was more than just a friendship gone sour. We had been Master and Subordinate once, had still been even if the titles had changed between us after my usurpation. We had been linked by power and blood and even my shadow, bonds of trust that even now I couldn't think of an equal to.

It was strange, but Shinobu had never once doubted me. At Ryouzanpaku, the Masters would frequently question my ability, would not believe me capable of doing something. It was human, and it was natural. There was no shame in acknowledging the limits of another's capabilities. It was human to do so.

But Shinobu, she had never once believed that I would fail, at anything. Even when she had set me loose with barely an hour's experience in being a vampire against blooded and experienced hunters, she had genuinely believed that I would be successful. Regardless of circumstances, regardless of the obstacles, Shinobu had had absolute faith in me.

It was an inhuman viewpoint. In hindsight, there was nothing natural about our connection. Maybe it was just a sign of our status as Kai. Which actually made me wonder just how it was that Sakaki would have such an understanding of his own about such a connection.

"I'd always thought that out of all the Masters of Ryouzanpaku, it was you who would be most suited for the Nightworld," I murmured, shifting again, feeling my body scrape against where it was resting. I felt cold, too cold, but I ignored it. "You more than any of the others, except maybe Shigure-san, would be able to understand it."

"What do you mean by that, Kenichi?" Sakaki didn't sound like he was sure if my statement was a positive not.

"Because you are barely human as it is," I told him, confirming that it wasn't. "The Nightworld doesn't act according to human sensibility, to human rules. Besides Shigure, you were always the least human of the Masters. You would be able to understand that things there are different, that the Nightworld's laws are harsh and can be carelessly cruel. I think you could fit in, if you were to come to this side."

"Well, thanks," Sakaki didn't exactly sound pleased by my proclamation, his tone put out as I casually called his humanity into question.

"Hey!" Kisara yelped, "did that vine just move?"

"What?" Ukita seemed more interested in what his love interest was up to rather than the drama between Disciple and Master. "I didn't see anything, Kisara-san!"

"Hey, is it just me or do there seem to be more of them around?" now that attention had been drawn to them, Freya was the first to notice the increase in the vegetation around them.

"It could mean that we are getting closer to whatever Kai is here," Chikage noted, firmly locked in her professional mode. "Earlier, when we were moving away from Band-Aid they were thinning out."

"Does that mean we've almost found Kenichi-san?" Miu's voice was excited at the smaller girl's proclamation.

"If she's right," Takeda muttered, tone unhappy again. He didn't seem fond of the girl now that her status as Yomi had been revealed. "It's not like she's been much good for anything so far."

"There are definitely more of those vines though," Niijima noted. "It's starting to feel like a jungle in here."

"If we're almost there… then there isn't much time left," Shigure noted. "Quick. What happened to your… friends Kenichi?"

"Shigure-san!" Miu was back to being exasperated again as once more Shigure proved to have a one track mind.

"Oi, Shigure, aren't you maybe pressing a bit too much?" even Sakaki seemed disappointed by his fellow Master's forcefulness. "Everyone has the right to privacy in Ryouzanpaku…"

"They were murdered," I was beginning to remember that I didn't have to answer every question, but despite that I did so anyway. After having said so much, it didn't feel right to leave the story unfinished.

"By… who?" Shigure demanded.

"The priests of the Apostate Deacons." It had been while recovering Shinobu's limbs that I had my first encounter with one of those priests: Guillotine Cutter. She had called him a priest of an unnamed religion, and it wasn't until my second meeting with this particular parish that I learned what they called themselves.

"Wait, so your friends were murdered by priests?" Sakaki voiced the question which Shigure was most likely preparing herself.

"The Apostate Deacons are faith dedicated to the destruction of the Kai," I elaborated, and perhaps it was only because of my lethargy that I was able to continue speaking. If I had been more alert, then it would have hurt too much to continue. "They kill anything that isn't human in order to protect humanity as a whole. Even if I was mostly human by then, I was still partly a vampire. More than that, the Deacons had originally been hunting Kiss Shot herself as well. When they found out that she was alive, and that she had a subordinate, they sent more priests to finish the job. My friends were just targets of convenience to them…"

"But, if they only attack monsters or something, why would they attack some innocent bystanders?" Ukita sounded outraged by what must appear as indiscriminate murder to him.

"Because they weren't humans, not completely," I sighed, recalling my lost friends. "After I regained my humanity, I had to work off my debt to the priest who helped me. During that time, I found others who had stumbled into the Nightworld, and tried my best to help them. Senjougahara had been blessed by a god, and wanted the blessing revoked. Kanbaru was being consumed by a demon, and needed help to get free. And Hanekawa had been possessed by a cat. I was able to help all of them deal with their Kai, but in the end, when the Apostate Deacons found me they decided that since they had all been possessed by the Kai that they could use them."

"Bait," Freya noted, her cool tone dark. "Or hostages."

It fitted their usual mode of operations. After all, during the battle for Shinobu's limbs Guillotine Cutter had been willing to use Hanekawa in the same way.

"They killed them all," I confirmed, still distant enough to be able to speak of it. "But when I finally recovered enough to look for Shinobu, she was gone. I had thought she had passed with the rest of them.

"Normally I'd never talk about this," I mused, my thoughts starting to come closer together, to flow easier. "That's why you're asking now, isn't it Shigure? Because you knew that this would be the only time I'd answer?"

"Ye…s" I wasn't sure how Shigure could manage to pause in a word which only had three letters in it, but somehow she managed to hold true to her particular verbal tic.

"Hmph," Niijima sounded annoyed. "I would have just asked for his bank accounts."

"You guys can't be believing this, right?" Takeda growled, his voice low as he tried to keep from shouting. "There are no such things as vampires, or killer priests! I don't know what they doped him with, but this has to just be Kenichi hallucinating!"

"Probably," Niijima agreed back easily, his voice lowering as well. "But for now we can't tell what is real and what he just thinks is real. For god's sake, just play along for a bit until we can get it all sorted out."

"Guys," it was Kisara again, and it didn't sound like she had been part of the quiet conversation. "I'm serious! Some of these vines are moving, I swear!"

"You should leave now," I noted. I was still hazy, but I was finally able to start stringing coherent thought together now. It felt like I was thinking through a haze of cotton, but it was enough for now. "Before it's too late."

"Too late for what?" Sakaki sounded hesitant, though whether it was from my warning or from the story of my past I couldn't quite tell.

"I told you once, Shigure-san. If all of reality is a play, than the Nightworld is everything that happens back stage. To see it is to never again be able to look at the world the same way. I think, sometimes, that that is the best way to describe it. Once you have seen the Nightworld, the things that all of humanity looks away from instinctively, than you can never again look away. The Kai that have always been around you can't be ignored anymore." I shifted again, still feeling cold. "You could go, before you see something you can't un-see."

"And I said before… that I don't think we would be unhappy… to know that side of Kenichi as well," Shigure told me, and I could understand the tone of her voice this time: a firm sincerity that would not be swayed.

"We must be close," Chikage spoke up again, still in Yami mode. "The only reason he would warn us of this is if we had nearly found him."

"Yeah," Miu sounded firm as well. "That would be just like Kenichi-san!"

"Well, we have to almost be at the basement," Sakaki noted. "I think I see a door behind these vines…"

I sighed. "You shouldn't come in here," I told them, the last warning I could give.

"Well, that sounds like a confirmation!" Sakaki noted, probably grinning at that. "Now, to just get the door… Shigure!" His tone turned to outrage again as yet another loud clanging noise interrupted him.

"Also… dibs," Shigure told him, and I was sure she was smug that time. "Now… for Kenichi…"

I half expected her to continue her sentence, her pause to be nothing more than one of her customary ones, but when she didn't continue, I sighed again.

"You saw," I accused them, moving my mouth for the first time this conversation. When my voice was greeted with gasps, and a loud cry from Miu, I knew that they had all seen. Knowing the sight that would await me, I opened my eyes as well. Even though it was dark, I could see everything perfectly.

The basement had once been a dusty moldy collection of desks and other rotting school supplies, but now there was a new addition to the mess. Sprouting from nearly every open space, were great ropy vines, green and brown lengths of bark and leaves, twisting and entwining over every surface. Some of them stretched from various surfaces, connecting the ceiling, the ground, the walls, and even some of the larger pieces of equipment to each other seemingly at random. They had grown so much that they pierced even through the ceiling and the earth, stretching far above and beyond this room, spreading throughout the whole school if what the others had said were true. It looked like no part of the basement though had been spared their growth.

And lying in the center of the room, atop a sarcophagus like bed of broken desks, I too hadn't been spared.

My body looked wasted, I noted idly. It was as though all the hard work of the Masters of Ryouzanpaku to carve my body into the chiseled mass of muscle I had once been had been undone. Now, my skin stretched tight, too tight, directly over my bones. My arms and legs looked like twigs, and my ribs stood out plainly, easily counted. Even my waist was thin, too thin, as though whatever had wasted away my flesh hadn't spared even my organs as well. I couldn't see my face, but I could imagine how gaunt it must be.

The only parts of me that looked to have any substance at all were the parts where the vines penetrated through my flesh. Just like the rest of the room, the ever present vegetation had bored through me, connecting to all my limbs, even to my chest and waist. The only part I think that was free of them was my skull, though it was hard to tell from my perspective.

I either looked like a corpse or the world's most demented chia pet, I decided idly, not sure if I meant it humorously or sardonically.

"Welcome to the Nightworld," I told them, trying to smile but not sure if I succeeded.

"Kenichi-san!" Miu whispered, horrified by my appearance. She must have fallen to her knees when she finally caught sight of me because she was sprawled out on the ground, hands up to cover her mouth as she stared like she couldn't look away.

"Shit!" Takeda swore, his eyes wide and his fists clenched as he grit his teeth. It looked like the boxer had no idea what to do when confronted by the scene. "This is impossible! It just isn't possible!"

"Lalala! A horrifying melody," Siegfried agreed, his normal singing taking on a dark tone. "A saraband of despair!"

"How did the vines get in him?" Kisara noted, an edge of panic on her voice as she glanced around nervously. The small Tae Kwon Do user didn't seem to realize that she was drawing closer to Ukita, and I realized that despite his silence Shiratori also had been present, and oddly seemed to be doing the same. The big Judoist didn't seem to notice, his eyes wide enough to be visible even behind his shades.

Whatever the rest of the group might have had to say, they were silenced by an enormous pressure, a sudden palpable presence so thick that some of the gathered Shimpaku members fell to their knees, unable to bear it.

"I'm going to murder something," Sakaki hissed, his jacket once more exploding off his body as his muscles clenched. He had that look on his face, the same one he had when he had watched Miu try to kill me, the one that spoke of hatred every bit as deep as the one he bore towards Junazard. Slightly in front of him, Shigure nodded, her eyes shadowed and glinting as she released her ki as well. The force of my Masters' rage was nearly crushing, as the Shinpaku alliance could attest to. "As soon as I get Kenichi out of there, I'm going to find the ones who did this, and kill them."

It was touching, in a way. To hear that a member of the Katsujin Ken be so outraged by my condition, to care for me so deeply that even in the heat of the moment they would be willing to cast aside their beliefs to avenge me, it was probably the greatest sign of love that the two of them could ever offer me as their Disciple.

Unfortunately, I could not allow it. I wouldn't let my Masters either kill, nor take me from where I was. I was right where I needed to be.

"No," I told them, my voice feeling dry and my throat aching. "You won't."

"The hell-" Sakaki began, starting as the entire room came alive, the previously immobile vines twitching, writhing like snakes as they gained motion. I was briefly, irrelevantly, reminded of the Shikome's hair. Then the vines moved, lashing out like whips.

"I told you they moved!" Kisara screamed, kicking violently as one of the vines snapped out her, looping out in mid motion to tighten around her leg. "Oh god!" she continued in a high pitched tone. "These are tentacles, aren't they?"

The rest of Shinpaku also began to fend for themselves, Freya's cane proving effective as she tried to fend herself off. Thor was restrained by the tight quarters, but he at least managed to grasp some of the vines catching him, tearing them off as he did so, gouts of blood rather than sap spurting from the broken edges of the foliage. Siegfried was a whir, using his counter attack style to remain free, and Niijima was once more showing his unnatural Alien dodging skills.

However, they were nothing compared to Miu, Sakaki, Shigure, and surprisingly enough, Takeda too.

I had always sort of thought of Takeda as the closest of the group to me in level of skill, and it showed as the dandy boxer somehow managed to fight his way free of the grasping vines. Just like with Thor he would use his fast punches to catch vines, his Seikuken already up and running as he defended his territory with noteworthy skill. Takeda, just like me, was a Sei fighter after all.

Miu on the other hand was a Dou fighter, an explosive combatant that used their anger rather than their calm. And I was feeling that anger now. Miu's spirit was actually palpable to me, despite the surrounding force of the two Masters' Ki, and her eyes had gone wide and disturbing. It wasn't the same look that she had when Junazard's training shone through, rather it was the same look she had when we had watched Sakaki and Hongo fight, the look of someone who was exciting their spirit to heighten their skills.

Still, the two most obvious in their struggle were Sakaki and Shigure, naturally. The greatest number of vines were attacking the two of them, as the obvious strongest of the group, and it looked like the number of the attacks was at least slowing them down. The vines were wrapping around the brawler like steel cables, though just like with his jacket it seemed that sheer muscle force alone was allowing Sakaki to fight them off for the most part. Shigure was a blur of silver as her father's sword cut down everything in her path. Maybe it was her experience with the Shikome's hair, but she was being especially cautious not to let the whipping foliage get a hold on her. Just like with Thor, the broken vines sprouted crimson fluid, and the two of them were soaked with the liquid, the blood staining their clothes nearly entirely red as it squirted over them.

I groaned, a pained noise as the fight grew in intensity

Even as the Shinpaku Alliance were overwhelmed, and Sakaki turned to help them, it was Chikage who brought an end to this growing dead lock. The tiny jujitsu user was mostly still, somehow slipping through every vine that tried to grasp her as though they weren't there. The Kushinada jujitsu was truly terrifying in that regards. Maybe, just like with Shigure, the Bewitching Fist had begun to adjust her training regimen in order to avoid potential Kai abilities. Throughout it all, the tiny Disciple was still bearing that wide eyed expression she tended to wear whenever she was learning about the Kai from me.

It was when I groaned, that her eyes widened even further, a look of shock forming on her face.

"Stop!" she shouted, her voice slightly alarmed as she realized something that caused her composure to crack.

"Not the best idea now, super midget," Sakaki growled, liberating Thor as he continued to assist the rest of the Shinpaku from the vines.

"No! You don't understand! It's Band-Aid's blood! Whatever it is, it's drinking his blood!"

The words went through my would be rescuers like a bolt. Takeda and Miu froze, the boxer looking at his fist and Miu staring at her legs with horror as they realized that the source of the crimson fluid. Sakaki's eyes widened, and even Shigure hesitated when they realized that they were literally dyeing themselves red in the blood of the Disciple they were trying to save. The two Masters seemed to come to some sort of decision in an instant, both of them retreating, Sakaki only pausing to force back some of the more entwined members of the Alliance.

As they pulled back, the vines stilled, letting them retreat. The message was clear: don't come any closer, and they wouldn't be molested. I let out another groan, one of relief as I relaxed.

"They are! They are tentacles!" Kisara at least seemed to be thinking of a different definition of 'molested' anyway. "Oh god! I've seen anime about this!"

"I don't think that's exactly what's going on here," Sakaki muttered, his tone still enraged but now caution seemed to be his watchword.

"But look! They already got the Kiddo!" Kisara was actually hiding behind Ukita at this point, and again I couldn't help but wonder just how close Shiritori was standing to him as well. Was there something going on between the two of them…?

"Kenichi… has been violated!" Shigure seemed outraged by the implication, and despite myself, a small chuckle escaped.

"That was a joke, wasn't it?" I noted. It seemed like I was starting to recall my 'Shigure interpretation skills'.

"Only in… part," Shigure was definitely pouting at my calling her strange humor. "So you… remember that much?"

"This isn't the time to joke!" Miu shouted, the girl white. She was staring at her legs, at my blood staining them. "We can't get close to Kenichi without hurting him, and I have... I have his blood all over…"

"Easy girl," Sakaki hastily tried to comfort the other Disciple as Miu started to heave, spitting up bile as the situation proved enough to cause her nausea. "We can get him out of here. We just have to figure out what it is, and then we can stop it, right?" The brawler turned to Chikage, apparently having no problem relying on a member of the Satsujin Ken in a situation where she might be the only one with the answer.

"I don't know," Chikage was proving to be the least affected by the incident, her eyes wide and once more locked in Yami mode. "I've never heard of something like this. Some sort of parasite, but as vegetation?" She looked to me, apparently in the hopes of once more being able to rely on me for answers.

"You know," I began, still somewhat bemused. "I honestly don't think it has a name." With a sigh, I continued. "Now, will you please leave? I've told you, I'm not going anywhere. Not until I'm done."

"Done with what?" Niijima at least seemed capable of working past the scene that had just occurred. "Just what are you doing here, Kenichi? You said that you were here on purpose, so you must have some use for that… that thing…" even the Alien seemed nonplussed by the mobile sentient blood filled vines. "Just what are you trying to accomplish here?"

"I told you last time," I reminded him. "That I had found a way to help Shinobu."

"Like this?" Miu demanded, looking up from where she was still hunched over, whipping bile from her mouth as she glared at me. "Kenichi-san! Look at yourself! Even if she was your friend, this is terrible! There must be another way to help her, something that isn't… isn't this!"

"If there is, then I don't know it," I sighed. "I might have been able to find one, but how long would it have taken? Another year? Two? Ten? There might be no other way for me to help Shinobu. So even if it's something like this, then that's exactly what I'm going to do."

"But what about me? Us?" Miu demanded, straightening completely as she pleaded with me. "Niijima was right! You're destroying yourself like this! Look at you!" She tried to do so herself, but she flinched, her head glancing away as she took in my devastated body. "You might never recover from this!"

"Even if this body will be ripped apart, and my soul will be smashed up, I will save Shinobu," I swore, my voice firm despite it being scratchy and hoarse from disuse. "No matter what, I will not be swayed from this path."

"Shit," Takeda muttered. "I knew that Kenichi was stubborn, but I never thought it would work against us like this!"

"But…" Miu swallowed, tears forming in her eyes. "What about your promise?" she asked, speaking so softly that it was nearly a whisper. I don't think she meant for me to hear her at all. "What about what you promised to me that night, on the roof?"

I let my eyes drift shut, and even though I was still somewhat fuzzy in the head, even though I would not be moved from my path, even though I would never regret, something sharp stabbed me in the heart as her words met my ears.

I was the worst person in the world.

"Long before we met, I made someone else a promise," I told her back, my voice firm. Miu jumped as she realized that I was answering her question despite the fact that I shouldn't be able to have heard her. "I'm sorry Miu, but until I can fulfill that one, than I can't turn away from it."

Surprisingly, Miu started to laugh, though it sounded more hollow than amused. "And now I know what Renka meant, when she said it was only because I was here first."

I didn't know what she was speaking of, so I remained silent. With my eyes closed, I felt the lethargy of earlier growing again, that seemingly inescapable exhaustion seeping back into me.

"Kenichi, are you sure about this?" It was Sakaki again, but this time I didn't open my eyes back up. He didn't sound like he was coming any closer. His murderous rage from earlier was mostly extinguished, and his voice was unusually hesitant for him. "I mean, will this really satisfy you? Your body doesn't look like it might ever recover, you're turning your back on your friends, and on Ryouzanpaku…. Will this really make you happy?"

"You told spoke to me once about the karma of martial arts, Sakaki-sensei," I murmured, tiredly. "How the karma of martial arts is always more violence. Well perhaps this is the karma of the Nightworld. All debts must be repaid. Still, even if nothing but misery waits, I will be satisfied with it. I'm sure, sensei."

So often it was the truth of dealing with the Kai that there were no happy endings. Just like the situation with Shinobu, when I had not been able to be human, she hadn't been able to die, and humanity had to deal with the continued threat of her existence, there are endings where nobody is satisfied in the end. It was something that Ryouzanpaku should at least be familiar with. Sometimes the only cure for a trauma is a greater trauma, like forcing me to fight against weapons, or forcing Miu to hurt me.

"Oi, Alien," Ukita spoke up, his voice strained. "What are we going to do? How are we going to get Kenichi out of this?" It was strange, but for all the distain that so many of the fighters of Ryouzanpaku tended to have for the Viceroy, when it was time for a plan not a one of them would hesitate to turn to him.

"I don't know." Niijima admitted, his voice tight as for the first time he failed to live up to the expectations he had rightly built up for himself. "If it was just a matter of getting him out of there, we could bull through. But with those vines draining his blood, it just might kill him if we did. If he wanted to be saved, then we could still find a way, but with him actively resisting…"

"So we just have to convince Kenichi to get out of there," Takeda grit out, the boxer's voice tense.

"And how are we supposed to do that?" Niijima snapped back, sounding the most frustrated I'd ever heard him. "You have seen how stubborn Kenichi can get when he's decided on something, haven't you? Or have you been asleep for the last two years or something?"

"Lalala! Trying to convince Kenichi-san once he's set himself would be harder than moving a mountain!" Siegfried continued to sing a dissonant tune as he agreed.

"Perhaps if we were to ask my Master for help, she might know something of whatever Kai this is?" Chikage supplied, tone cool.

"I don't know just how far I can trust the old man's old squeeze," Sakaki vetoed that one out of hand, his tone firm.

"After he killed my father… I asked Akisame to marry me," Shigure spoke up. It was such a sudden an unexpected claim, that it actually took me a second to comprehend it. When the meaning of her words finally penetrated my thoughts, I twitched, feeling my slow return to slumber stopping unexpectedly.

"Wait, what?" Apparently the rest of the room seemed equally surprised, judging from Miu's tone. "So does that mean Shigure-san and Akisame-san…" Despite everything, Miu's voice reminded me slightly of the way she sounded whenever she started talking about Ukita, Freya, and Kisara for some reason.

"The hell, Shigure?" Sakaki also seemed nonplussed.

"He turned me… down," Shigure continued, not verbally reacting to the others while she continued her unexpected confession. "He didn't understand what I meant when… I said I wanted to be called Akisame too."

"Wait, the Great-Doctor killed someone?" Takeda seemed shocked as he used his customary title for the man who had healed his arm and returned his pride as a boxer. "But Akisame-dai-sensei would never do something like that!"

"I had only ever known… my father," Shigure ignored that too, continuing in her monologue. I could make out something in her voice, some emotion I was having trouble identifying. "He was very… old fashioned. I didn't know much about… other people. I just thought… that since Akisame was a good man… I should marry him."

As she continued I found myself reopening my eyes, unable to resist turning to face my Master as she continued to reveal her past to me personally. Shigure had moved until she was closer to me than the where the rest of the group had retreated. I hadn't noticed earlier, but she was still dressed in her customary mission clothes, the weapon laden trench and the lavender kimono. She was carrying her father's sword, re-sheathed since the previous altercation, in front of her, one hand hovering over the hilt as though preparing to draw again.

As more of my attention returned to me, I realized that I could identify the tone of her voice. Shigure sounded nervous, like she was trying to build herself up to something.

"Afterwards, I went to… school for a bit," Shigure noticed that my eyes had opened, and steadfastly met my faze with her usual blank one. "I learned that… other people weren't like me. I had trouble understanding… others. I couldn't talk with them… about the same things. I never really… connected. Until… Ryouzanpaku."

"Oi, Shigure," Sakaki interrupted this time, and the brawler took a slow step closer to his fellow Master. The brawler looked concerned, his typical awkward concern for his friends showing through as he seemed like he was trying to decide how to react. "You don't need to say any of this," he reminded her slowly. "Everyone has a right to their privacy…"

"It is… fine," Shigure reacted to her fellow Master at least, turning briefly to give him a blank look. "Earlier… I asked Kenichi many things. This way there are… no debts."

"Shigure-san?" I murmured, confused by why she was saying these things, especially now in front of so many witnesses.

"When Kenichi first came to… Ryouzanpaku I was very nervous," Shigure turned back to me as she continued her story. "I didn't know much… about people who weren't Masters. I knew less about… Disciples. Because I am like this… I didn't even know much about teenagers." She seemed a little embarrassed about her confession, but she continued on in her slow pace. "But everyone had so much fun with Kenichi… that I decided to try to get along as well."

"I remember," I murmured. I never would have known just how much of Shigure's thoughts were about me if it wasn't for the Satori, but once it had been revealed it had been easy to see the effort Shigure put into looking out for me. I don't think any of the other Masters, except for maybe Sakaki, had invested nearly as much of themselves into our relationship. Sakaki had been the one who would sneak out with me for Ramen, who would invite himself along on Shinpaku Nightworld field trips to look out for us, who had told me the most of his past. There were times when he almost seemed more like some brash delinquent uncle rather than a teacher.

In the past Shigure had only revealed her past to me by asking Akisame to talk about it. But now, right here in front of virtual strangers, she was deliberately telling me more personally.

I had no choice but to respond to such sincerity with all my attention. I tried to focus harder on her, to pay more attention, and in return I felt even more of the fog on my consciousness start to fade.

"It was fun… with Kenichi around," Shigure seemed to note something in me as well, perhaps the bond between Master and Disciple letting her realize that I was focusing more. "I started to think… of Kenichi as more than just a Disciple. I thought of him… like a friend as well. When we started going on Nightworld trips… I started to get to know you even better. I was… happy."

It began to make sense to me. How had life been like for Shigure? She had been raised in the wild, immersed in the Underworld probably almost since birth. It showed in her actions and words, the way she wasn't ever quite up to normal social standards, the way she had trouble speaking her thoughts quickly enough. What must it have been like when she interacted with normal people, things like school and such? I just couldn't see Shigure getting along with everyone the way a normal girl would.

What must isolation like that have been like? Was it any surprise that she would be as strange as she is now?

"I was happy… until we met the fox."

If I had been more ambulatory right now, I would have frozen at that.

"Oh no," I murmured, already dreading what would come next. Just because I hadn't realized Shigure's mind, that didn't mean the Tamamo-no-Mae wouldn't have. The fox had said that Shigure had questions, but I had been so consumed with my own that I hadn't even noticed.

"I had thought… that I thought of Kenichi like a Disciple," Shigure continued, no change in her pace or tone despite what I knew must be coming. "Or like… a friend. But the fox told me… that I was wrong. She told me… that the other Masters didn't feel like this. That it was more… than friendship."

"Shigure-san, you don't mean…!" Miu gasped, her head whipping back and forth between me and the older woman, perhaps already making a connection that I still hadn't grasped.

"What did the fox say, Shigure-san?" I asked, feeling like I should already know, that if I was just thinking a little straighter I would have made the same jump of logic that Miu apparently had.

"That I liked Kenichi not as Master and Disciple… but as a woman likes a man." Shigure's tone was such that I was certain if she was anyone else, she would be speaking in a rush. As it was, I noted a small spot of red forming on her cheeks, and realized with detachment that she was apparently blushing.

It took me a moment to really understand what she was saying, but once I did the realization crashed through me like a lightning bolt.

"Oh," I managed, and I wondered if I was blushing too. Even though the situation most definitely did not warrant it, I had a brief flash of memory to the day I had woken up naked in Shigure's arms, and I was sure I was blushing then.

Until I realized something more.

"Oh, that bitch of a fox," I murmured, my eyes narrowing and a scowl forming. Shigure nodded quickly at my summation of the Tamamo-no-Mae.

"She told me that it wasn't… just as a Disciple that I cared for Kenichi," Shigure continued. "She told me that… Kenichi might also feel the same… for me. But that if… I didn't tell him soon… I would lose the chance," Shigure continued. "I didn't know… if she was lying or not. So I wanted to wait… and figure it out myself. But then before I could… Kenichi disappeared."

"Of course it was the truth," I scowled, closing my eyes briefly in anger. "There would be no reason she would lie, if the truth would hurt that much more."

I had thought that the fox had just been taunting Shigure with her uncertainty of her status as my Master, that she had just been playing on my youngest Master's insecurities. But if it had been more than that; if Shigure really did have feelings for me, than it was far worse. The fox had made Shigure watch as she tortured the one she cared for.

Hell, even the next morning had taken on new meaning. I had thought it rather childish, just stripping the two of us and putting it together, but for Shigure it must have been something else. Forced to be in such close contact with someone she wasn't certain she had feelings for, not being able to do more than think about her own feelings while I lay on top of her, struggling with her doubts and uncertainties the entire time: just what must it have been like to endure that for the socially inexperienced woman?

More than that, the fox had deliberately told Shigure all of this, told her that her time was limited, right after she had told me the one thing that would guarantee me leaving immediately.

It seemed like even now, I was underestimating the cruelty of the Tamamo-no-Mae. She truly had taken torment to level so exquisite it was almost artful.

"I hesitated… before," Shigure continued, her tone changing, getting a new hint of resolve in it. "But I won't hesitate… now. I realized… that I love Kenichi." In one swift motion, she unsheathed her father's sword, pointing it deliberately at me as she did so. "And I won't let you run off… with some other strange woman!"

"Holy shit," Sakaki deadpanned, the older man giving an impressed look as Shigure finished her proclamation. "Uh, well, congratulations. Again," he added, echoing his statement from the time he had walked in on Shigure and I naked after the fox.

"Wait, what the hell is going on?" Takeda demanded, grabbing his hair in frustration. "Seriously, a love confession from a Master to a Disciple in the middle of a scene like this? What the hell!"

"What about…" it was Freya who spoke this time, the dark skinned girl's eyebrows raised as she glanced From Shigure, me, and then down to…

Oh yeah…

"Shigure-san and Kenichi-san?" Miu stammered, holding two shaking hands out in front of her as she placed her thumbs and pointer fingers into the shape of a triangle. The girl seemed so shocked that she couldn't quite figure out how to react. "Shigure-san, Kenichi-san, together…"

Oh. Wow. Yeah, it finally occurred to me just how awkward this scene really was. Shigure also seemed to realize that she had just confessed to me in front of the girl that I liked while the two of us already had a sort of unspoken agreement about our future together.

"No strange women… besides Miu," Shigure added after a moment. "Miu is like a sister… and sisters share." The swordswoman nodded as she made the amendment to her previous statement.

"You don't mean like…" Ukita began, and the straighlaced former delinquent began to blush as the implications of Shigure's statement became clear to him. Strangely, the still silent Shiritori perked up a bit at the statement.

I had the feeling there was something going on that I wasn't quite aware of with him.

"Is she joking?" Kisara demanded, an incredulous look on her face from where she peered up from behind the blushing Ukita's larger frame.

"No," I informed her, still too stunned by Shigure's announcement, all of her announcements really, to react properly. "She's being completely serious right now."

I was honestly at a loss for just how I was supposed to react to not only Shigure's confession, but her apparent intention to try and share me with Miu in a way that I really doubted most sisters would ever agree to. Lacking any other way to respond, I was forced to rely on the normal fall back for situations like this.

Slowly, as though I had forgotten how to do it, I clenched my right hand into a fist, and then pulled, lifting my arm off the collection of tables it had been resting on. The vines that had penetrated my flesh pulled taught, the desk beneath me creaking before the furnituure finally gave in with a cracking noise as the movement pulled the vine through the rotting wood, shattering it as I freed myself. When I started to pull my left hand free, even more of my resting place shattered and broke.

It was a bit hard, pulling myself free. My body felt so thin, so empty, and I had very little in the way of leverage due to the sheer number of the bonds holding me down. But I had broken free of positions like that before, and no matter what my body might look like right now, I was by no means as weak as I looked.

The others didn't know that though.

"Kenichi-san!" Miu yelped, apparently the sight of me moving enough to distract her from the growing confusion in our relationship. "You shouldn't move like that!"

"There isn't much of a choice in it," Niijima muttered back, a smile starting to form. "But if he can get free of it, and get over here…"

"Good job, Shigure," Sakaki muttered as well, no doubt not intending for me to have heard. "You got him to come out!" He gave his fellow Master a wry look, no doubt focusing on Shigure's very developed body, probably attributing what appeared to be my sudden change of mind on to those in particular. "Chalk one up for Ma's s theories on the power of the etchi."

"He's doing it!" Thor exalted, laughing in relief as I managed to sit up, the vines coming from my back further tearing the desks apart. "He's going to come!"

With a groan, I wondered if I was going to manage to sit up all the way before my uncomfortable bed broke apart completely. With a jerking motion, I reached up, wrapping my arm with some of the vines that were emerging from the ceiling to help support myself as I started to work at pulling my legs free as well. That proved to be the final straw for the beleaguered old school equipment, and the pile of desks collapsed underneath me, only my hold on the hanging vegetation keeping me from taking a tumble with them.

When I finally got my feet back underneath me it was that same grip that kept me from tumbling. It had been a while since I had been on my feet, and my balance felt all off. Gingerly, I took a step though the action was like trying to move through water, or when Akisame had me jog with tires tied to me. The vines still attached to my legs were still entwined with the wreckage of my resting place, and I had to kick against the resistance to get myself to move forward. The same grip on the hanging greenery that kept me up also proved to be a resistance, and I had to yank at them, streams of plaster and ceiling falling down as the vines were forced down, through the wreckage they had grown through, showering me and a good portion of the room with debris.

Finally, I managed to stand properly so that I could face Shigure directly. While the rest of the room had begun to cheer, thinking that the unexpected confession had been enough to sway me, the swordsmistress had waited patiently, sword still extended towards me. All the time we had spent together, the experience that had let me come to interpret her very miniscule changes in features, it seemed that she had come to a better understanding of me. Just like when she had followed me to face a fox, Shigure knew that I had something else on my mind.

"I'm sorry," I told her, bowing as I did so. I only made it a portion of the trip before one of the vines attached to my back stopped me, jerking me from moving any further. Awkwardly, I fumbled behind until I found the offending tendril, and yanked it as well, destroying more of the ceiling to get the slack I needed to complete my bow. "I don't know if I can respond to your feelings right now."

"I sort of… though so," Shigure answered bluntly, sheathing her sword. "Can I ask… why?"

"There is someone else that I have feelings for," I admitted, not looking at Miu as I did so. "And a good friend of mine is going through a hard time. I can't really focus on a relationship until that's over with. Also," I shrugged uncomfortably, "my last girlfriend was murdered in front of my eyes, and I kind of haven't gotten over that yet either."

"Is the Kiddo really just treating this like a normal confession?" Kisara demanded, her voice incredulous as she stared at me. "Where do they think they are? Behind the cafeteria at gym or something?"

"Well, we are technically at school," Ukita pointed out, scratching his head in confusion.

"Since not… now, maybe later?" Shigure asked, looking as hopeful as I've ever seen her: both of her eyebrows actually rose by a centimeter.

"Well, maybe," I admitted, straightening, bringing one hand up to scratch the back of my head. Turned out there weren't vines there after all. "I do like you," I admitted, coughing a bit as I blushed a little. "But until this is sorted out, I can't really make a serious decision."

For a moment, Shigure stood silently, not apparently reacting. Then she brought one fist up and made her trademark 'Yes!' gesture. "'Not now'… is not 'no'," she declared.

"Wait, and she's actually excited by such a half-ass response?" Kisara snapped, still incredulous. Beside her, Freya raised one eyebrow and cocked her head to the side.

"Just how bad was her high school life if an answer like that is a postivie one?" the staff wielder wondered idly. Shigure turned a bit, and Freya backed down from the blank stare instantly. "I mean, I'm happy for you?" she hastily added, trying to appease the Master.

"However," I continued, calling Shigure's attention back to me as I let my hand fall. "You said something which I can't overlook." I wasn't certain what expression I was making at the moment. Was I angry, or determined? Did I still have the clear eyes that Thor had mentioned before, or had even that became twisted since I started down this path? "About not letting me go to Shinobu."

The swordmistress took in my expression, and she nodded, already understanding what I meant. "It is the Master's duty to guide… the Disciple," she told me, already shifting again, her hand sinking to the hilt of her sword once more. "What you are doing now… isn't healthy for you, Kenichi. As a Master of Ryouzanpaku I, Shigure Kousaka… will set you straight." Once more, Shigure drew her father's sword, though this time she didn't strike a pose with it. Her weapon settled in front of her as she tossed the sheathe aside, her stance cautious but firm. I didn't think it had a name like so many of Sakaki's stances, and if it did she had never told me it, but it was a stance I recognized from all the times I had seen Shigure fight before.

It was the one she used when she was getting serious about the battle she was about to fight.

"I see," and despite the turbidity of my thoughts I knew what would come next. "I am the Subordinate of Kiss Shot Acerola Orion Hearts Under Blades, the one heralded as the Kai killer. As her Subordinate, I, Kenichi Shirahama the Wicked Blossom, will be your opponent."

"Wait!" Miu chirped up, her head whipping back and forth between us, her eyes wide with confusion even as she still blushed from Shigure's earlier announcement about sisterly love. "Kenichi-san! Are you sure you should fight like this? Sakaki-san," she turned to the older man only to find that rather than taking up arms or getting ready to do battle the Karate user had already taken a seat, legs crossed and arms folded as he cocked his head to the side, expression serious. It was the same pose he had taken the first time Shigure and Kushinada had exchanged blows as well.

"Dibs again, Shigure?" Sakaki muttered, shaking his head slightly as he made no move to interfere. It was Ryouzanpaku's policy that all fights, no, not fights, that all duels should be one on one. And that was exactly what this had become at this point: a duel.

Nothing was going to make Shigure leave now, not after what she had said. And nothing was going to make me give up my own goals either. Even knowing my resolution, even knowing how much it meant to me, Shigure had decided that she had something of her own worth fighting for as well: me. In a way, it reminded me of so many of my own battles with the members of Yomi: in order to save them, I would have to beat them first. And now, here I was, having my own logic thrown back at me.

God, just how did my life get this twisted?

"But how can Kenichi fight in this kind of condition?" Miu demanded, her eyes tracking back to me, lingering on my stick like limbs.

"It's perfect!" Niijima agreed, apparently seeing the same thing and coming to entirely different conclusion than Miu. "He'll go down in no time, and then we can get him out of here! Soon, my beloved cash cow! Soon!"

"Shut up!" Ukita snarled, taking a swipe at the other boy as Niijima began to cackle with evil laughter.

"Not that I can't agree with the alien," Kisara began, still trying to keep Ukita between her and me, giving suspicious looks at the vines the whole time. "But maybe the kiddo should put on some clothes or something first?" The older girl blushed a bit at her words, and I blinked, before glancing down at myself.

"Huh," I grunted. "So that's what it feels like." At some point during my long slumber the vines had torn their way through the meager protection the cloth afforded me, and the long exposure to the element without being treated had caused the already ragged remains to rot and come apart. I was more or less nude at this point, just the screen of the vines hanging from my body doing the barest minimum to protect my modesty. "I always wondered why no one else ever seemed to care when they got naked in a fight. It just really doesn't seem too important, in the end."

Well, that cleared up at least one mystery about the way so many Masters seemed to have zero regards for modesty.

"Do you want… a moment?" Shigure offered politely, and I nodded. The older woman seemed to be thinking about something, and judging from the offer whatever her mind had wandered to seemed important enough to allow the fight to be delayed long enough for me to get some covering.

"Thank you," I murmured distractedly, wondering just how I was going to fit into anything without the newest additions to my body getting in the way. Finally, I decided to improvise.

This time I reached down, and just like earlier I gathered as many handful of the numerous green lengths attached to me before pulling, spinning slightly as I did so. With more sounds of shattering concrete, great lengths of the buried growths came free, erupting from the cement of the basement with explosions of dust and cement chips. It took a little effort, but I completed the spin, settling the new slack around my hips, forming an impromptu kilt or skirt of the vines. It was a little tricky to get them to stay up, but it looked like it would mostly be functional for the fight.

"So," I began, mind still wandering as Shigure waited patiently for me to finish. "I guess it's time for another lesson about the Nightworld." From where she was standing near Takeda, Chikage perked, her eyes widening slightly before they narrowed. Takeda glanced down suspiciously at the younger girl, and then seemed surprised when he found Chikage wearing the expression I had only ever seen her wear when I was explaining the world of the Kai. "Tell me, Shigrue-san: what do you know about vampires?"

"That they are not… delicious," she announced in that slow way of hers, and despite myself I felt a smile grow. Shigure caught sight of it, and I had the impression that if she wasn't getting ready for the fight she would have graced me with another 'Yes!' fist. "I don't know… much," she went on, more seriously this time. "I don't know everything… like Kenichi does."

"I don't know everything, I only know what I know," I informed her, before just like the time with the fox I froze. It only lasted a second, but then I sighed, a feeling of nostalgia forming. Maybe it was because Shigure had already made me talk about them, or maybe it was the absurdity of the situation taking its toll on my reservations, or maybe it was just the lingering weariness, but the memories those words brought back didn't seem as harsh this time.

"That's what Hanekawa would always say," I murmured, letting my sight drift to the floor. The ever-present vegetation caused it to bulge in places, and was plainly visible in others. In the darkness of the basement it almost made the floor look as though it was laced with strange green blood vessels.

"Was Hanekawa your… first girlfriend?" Shigure cocked her head to the side, and for all the world it sounded like she was jealous of my lost friend. Considering that she had just confessed to me, maybe she really was. I shook my head at her question.

"No, that was Senjougahara," I admitted, before shaking my head quickly, the motion causing ripples to flow down the vines on my body. At least marginally more decent, I rolled my neck, causing it to crack as I prepared for the fight. Shigure tensed, also apparently sensing that the brief lull was coming to an end. "Well," I began, looking up to meat Shigure's eyes directly. "I suppose I should begin my lesson on vampires."

My first move was nearly the last one Shigure would have seen in the battle. She barely had time to react as I launched myself at her, the room behind me echoing my steps with crashes and tears as the vines that kept me anchored yanked up more chunks of the floor and the ceiling, the bed of desks behind nearly exploding as the vegetation interwoven into it pulled tight and shattered the ruined furniture thunderously. It shouldn't be possible for me to move as fast as I did: I hadn't been this quick even after two years of Ryouzanpaku shaping my body to be superior physically, and my current shape was so wasted that it shouldn't even be able to support itself by conventional logic.

Conventional logic had nothing to do with the Kai. That's what the Kai were, after all: oddities, the illogical and the impossible.

Right now, I was far closer to the Kai than I was to humanity.

My first attack was nothing more than a swipe with one hand, my fingers curled and claw like as I swung with ridiculous obviousness. Still, it was so fast and unexpected that Shigure barely managed to block me with the back of her sword, and even then that was nearly not enough as I forced her to skid backwards nearly two feet before she managed to find footing, my unexpected strength catching her so off balance that she could barely deal with it.

"The first thing you should know about vampires, is that of all the Kai, I think they are the most terrifying," I continued, meeting Shigure's wide eyes from much closer, able to finally see what I looked like due to my reflection in them. My expression was grim, my body nearly skeletal, and the numerous bulges in my body where the vines emerged were grotesque as they distended my shape.

Definitely far from human at the moment then. Good.

"The number of powers a vampire can have," I continued, taking another wide swipe at Shigure, "are almost too many to count." This time she dodged, darting away with speed which matched, even surpassed my own unnatural quickness. With a flick, her sword was a silver sheen as it came back at me, forcing me to dodge back to avoid getting struck. "Shape shifting, turning into mist, turning into animals, destroying things with their sight, matter creation, immense strength and speed," I continued, darting back in to illustrate the last two as I clawed at her again, missing and demolishing the wall behind her as I did so, "it's just not fair, really."

"How the hell did Kenichi get so fast?" Takeda demanded, his voice shrill as he took in the unfolding battle with wide and disbelieving eyes. "He shouldn't even be able to move!" Much of the room seemed stunned into silence as they watched me continue to match a Master in speed and strength, even Sakaki having started, half rising from his seated position before he caught himself and forced himself back down into inactivity.

"Most vampires only learn a few tricks," I continued, once more demolishing a section of the room as I missed, only to discover that Shigure had disappeared from my sight. It must have been instinct that prompted me to throw myself forward, and a flash of silver where my head had been only a second ago was my reward for not standing still. Shigure's sword struck several of the vines trailing behind me, and the sudden force on them stopped me from rolling completely clear as they tugged me backwards. It looked like she was still using the back of her sword, even on the vegetation. It seemed she didn't want to hurt me any more than she had to. "But the sheer variety in what a vampire might be capable of always makes dealing with one dangerous!"

Shigure was already in the middle of an attack, her sword arching for my forehead with enough force to probably drive me into a small coma if I were still normal. I tried to dodge only to find that she had at some point driven some sort of dagger chain combination into the ground, pinning one of the vines attacked to me to the cement, her foot hold preventing it from tearing free. With no other recourse, I grabbed a handful of the vines as well, and used them like a whip to lash at the Master looming over me. She had to cut her attack short, leaping backwards to avoid getting hit, and ending up perched on a set of extended vines herself like some sort of monkey.

Trust a Master to use even an environment as twisted as this one to her own advantage.

"In exchange for all those powers," I continued, grunting as I reached up to grab a particular vine, yanking it hard. As though she had anticipated the move, my Master was already leaping away as the tendril I pulled proved to be attached to the one she had been standing on. "…vampires have plenty of weakness too: sunlight, large bodies of water, silver, holy power. There are plenty of ways to stop a vampire, if you can prepare yourself well enough. If you have the stomach for it, even drinking the vampire's blood itself can weaken them sometimes. A vampire's power is in their blood, after all."

Just like before, I lost sight of Shigure. I might be fast, but damn if she wasn't faster. She was more skilled than me too, and she was better armed to boot. I barely had a chance to react when another set of those dagger chain combos came out of nowhere, aimed at the vines in order to shackle them down. I had no idea if they were some sort of obscure weapon or if she was just cannibalizing some of her other weapons to make them on the spot, but I grunted as the coordinated assault yanked me off my feet and pinned me to the ground again. I caught sight of her again, a lavender flash as she appeared above me, sword raised to once more come down on my skull.

It looked like she was still trying to end this battle quickly. So far every strike she had tried for had been designed to knock me unconscious quickly and with minimal damage. It seemed Shigure didn't want to risk hurting me more than she had too in my fragile appearance. The efficiency of her attack left me pinned too tightly to move in time to block the blow myself. There was no way I would be able to pull free in time in order to get my hands between the sword and my head.

So instead, it was the room itself which moved to intervene.

"Huh?" Shigure grunted as her sword was intercepted by first one, then a dozen of the previously hanging vines. The green lashes nearly yanked the sword from her hand before she pulled it free, using the sharp edge to saw through the vegetation in another spray of my blood. Though it managed to free her weapon, Shigure found that they weren't the only lashes in motion as she gave a noise kind of like an 'eep' as she found herself dodging another dozen vines which had lashed out at her from behind.

"Oh god, the tentacles are going to get her!" Kisara shrieked, though the other members of the peanut gallery had different interpretations of the interference.

"Why is the thing only moving now?" Sakaki muttered, eyes narrowed. "Earlier, it attacked anyone who came in, then it let Shigure pass, and now it's deliberately interfering?"

"It must be Band-Aid," Chikake noted, eyes still wide as she watched the battle, missing neither the fight nor my lecture as she took in everything. "I had thought it was just a parasite before, but maybe it's more symbiotic. Band-Aid did say he needed to be here for something. Maybe he's letting the creature drink his blood, and in return he can take control of it in some way."

"Wait," Niijima began, giving the small girl a cautious look. "But isn't this entire building…" He cut off as one of the vines closer to him shifted, and then launched itself, pulling free of its moorings in another shower of concrete as it joined the fray.

"But what really makes vampires the most frightening of the Kai," I continued unabated as I pulled free from where Shigure had shackled me. It wasn't too hard, with even the captured tendrils tugging as they actively fought against their moorings and I regained my footing as I turned to face Shigure once more. "Is that beyond their physical weakness, vampires have no other restrictions on them."

"What do… you mean?" Shigure managed to get out, even as she continued to fight against the now fully animated vegetation in the room. Once more, I was reminded of the battle with the Shikome, watching as Shigure desperately tried to keep any of the lashing vines from finding purchase on her body. Her sword was a silver flash as it wove complicated patterns to fend off the attacks. She was once more using the back of her sword, trying to keep from spilling more of my blood even as she faced being overwhelmed once more. Periodically, one hand would pull free from the blade's hilt, and another flash of some bizarre weapon would appear. I saw a number of sais, three pronged dagger like weapons designed for locking blades, appear and pin a number of vines at their bases to keep them from drawing close, as well as some more lengths of chain.

It was a beautiful effort, but one I think Shigure knew was ultimately futile. With the self-imposed limitation of not cutting anything in this room, there was little she could do to truly stop the constant threat from all sides. And so long as the room itself was in motion, even the vines hampering my body were no longer a weakness to me.

"I mean that if you make an offering to a god, than they will be appeased," I explained, and Shigure only had a moment to widen her eyes before I charged once more into the mass of writhing leaves stems. She had to dodge, her sword already engaged as I swung at where her torso had been a moment earlier. "If you ask a wolf to not eat you, then it won't. If you play a fox's game, than it will repay its debt. But vampires have no guarantee that they will do the same." She dodged the next strike, but only barely, and my clawed hand found the edge of her kimono, tearing it and revealing the chainmail she favored underneath. "If you make an offering to a vampire, it may or may not accept. Begging a vampire not to eat you won't change their mind if that's what they're planning on. And if you try play a vampire's game, than it may or may not honor the debt afterwards. There are as many different ways a vampire could act as there are vampires in the world!"

My next attack was aimed at Shigure's head, a blow meant to knock her out just like she had intended to do with me. She saw it coming, and judging from the way her eyes narrowed she realized what would happen if I connected: it would mean I won, and that she had failed in trying to rescue me from myself. I think what happened next might have been panic. After all, I was clearly exhibiting superior strength and speed, at a level which rivaled a Master's. It must have been natural for her to assume that the rest of me was at the same level.

Her father's sword flashed as Shigure twisted it, bringing the edge around to face me, and she swung fast, so fast that it was all I could do to react. If that blow connected it would cut my head in two. I barely managed to get my hand up in time as the vines between the sword and it were severed so cleanly that the blood didn't start flowing immediately. My hand barely managed to nudge the weapon upwards, but in return the edge found my fingers between the second and third knuckles and parted them from my body just as easily as the vines had fallen. It was enough to force the sword high, but even as I ducked under it the blade caught a portion of my cheek and shaved it off as well.

"Kenichi-san!" Miu shouted, even as both Shigure and I leapt backwards, the vines pulling away as well as the shock of my injuries hit both of us. Shigure's eyes were wide as she realized that she had made a dangerous overestimation of my level and nearly taken the head of her own Disciple. Mine were wide too as the shock of the blow temporarily made me retreat on instinct.

Weapons are scary!

"Shigure-san!" Miu continued, now red as she angrily scolded the younger Master, my fellow Disciple snapping her eyes between giving the stump of my fingers worried looks and the offending Master a vicious glare. "We're trying to help Kenichi-san, not cut him to pieces! What were you thinking!"

"That he would… dodge better?" Shigure offered, still deadpan though the expression on her face reminded me of the time in the fox's den when she had thought she had killed someone, a mixture of horror and shame barely discernible on her deadpan expression.

"The truth is, vampires don't really have much in the way of defensive powers," I muttered, admitting that particular tidbit with a scowl. Shigure had obviously assumed that the sword itself wouldn't be able to really hurt me, no doubt recalling just how little affect her blade had had on the Shikome. "Just about all of a vampire's abilities are designed to be offensive. Really, they don't actually need any type of defensive abilities." I held my hand up, letting the others see my stump more clearly. "Why would they? They already have one very efficient way to get around being injured."

"What are you… talking… about…?" Takeda began, his eyes so wide I could see the whites of them as he began, staring at my injury. For someone who had lost the ability to do martial arts before, a maiming like this must have been particularly traumatic to witness. However, he lost his steam as he took in the sight of my fingers.

Slowly, as though they were made of salt and dissolving in a stiff wind, the fingers which had fallen to the ground began to crumble away, a cloud of white and red particles as they vanished without any visible cause. As they vanished, those particles appeared to disperse, only to reappear around the stumps on my hand, reforming slowly as the severed appendages returned to their rightful place on my body.

"Did I forget to mention a vampires regenerative abilities earlier?" I explained idly, watching the process without any real interest. I had seen much worse than this before, had gone through much worse than this to be honest. "Kiss Shot in particular had a high regenerative rate, very nearly qualifying as true immortality. As her subordinate, my own healing was always exceptionally high myself."

"The blood," Chikage noted, drawing attention back to herself from the rest of the group. "From the vines earlier. It's all gone."

"What the…" Ukita began, before he yelped. "She's right!" The blood that had stained the members of the Shinpaku Alliance and Ryouzanpaku had all vanished, most likely having dissolved while their attention was elsewhere without them even noticing. Even where it had stained clothes, the cloth was now completely unblemished.

"This never happened before," Sakaki noted, his tone serious as he kept a curious eye on me. "I think we would have noticed this kind of thing in training." It wasn't actually a question, but his tone implied that it could be one.

Oh Sakaki. Even now, you're still offering to respect my right to privacy.

"Right after I nearly regained my humanity I still had a small portion of my regeneration," I admitted. It was probably a sign of just how strong my inherited healing had been that even as a human that was only a fraction of a vampire I still could show that trait. "It wasn't until after…"I hesitated, my eyes drifting down. It was strange, but just like earlier the memories hurt less now. "It wasn't until they died that I lost even that. It was why I thought I had left the Nightworld completely, why I was so certain that Shinobu had died as well."

The Apostate Deacons were always crafty hunters, after all. They knew that they would stand no chance one on one against something like the Hearts Under Blades, or even her subordinate. So instead they had simply set a trap. When I had gone to rescue my kidnapped friend, they had simply set a ward around the building they had stowed the three of them in, one which apparently would let no one who had been influenced by the Kai pass. Then they had used more of their particular brand of holy magic to simply set fire to the building.

In a way, it made a gruesome sort of sense. The Apostate Deacons were only interested in destroying the Kai, so anyone who wasn't of the Kai would have no trouble getting away. However, none of my friends fit that qualification. With the cat still living in Hanekawa, and Kanbarou's arm still that of a monkey, neither of them had a chance of escaping. Even Senjougahara, who had managed to have the crab revoke the blessing hadn't truly lost all traces of the Kai on her.

Add in me, who had the equivalent of the queen of vampires living in his shadow, and there was no way for us to escape. Perhaps if Shinobu had drained enough of my blood, I would have been able to regenerate enough to withstand the fire directly, but at the cost of making me vulnerable to the sun and whatever holy magics the Deacons had in place.

So instead, Shinobu had gone the other route.

I don't know how the hell they managed to plan it, but it had been Senjougahara who sucker punched me right in the diaphragm and knocked the wind out of me. It had been Hanekawa who had pushed me down towards Shinobu as she emerged from my shadow, who had torn open her own throat just in time for my gasping lips to lock on to the wound. Gasping for the breath that had been knocked out of me, I had taken more than just air in:

I had taken the last of Shinobu's blood as well, the final key I needed to return to humanity completely.

I couldn't remember what had happened to her after that. I was still too confused, the smoke and heat as much as the desperate choking that taking blood down the wrong pipe preventing me from seeing straight. I knew that it was Kanbaru who finished the devastating combo, the strong girl literally picking me up to throw me out of a window, getting me clear of both the fire and the ward. There had barely been time for words before the three women I called my friends got me free, but I vaguely remembered Hanekawa telling me that she valued her own debt to me more than her own life, Kanbarou telling me to live on, and Senjougahara giving me one last kiss.

Strangely, it was Hanekawa who stuck out the most in my memory. That hypocrite. When I told her that that I valued our debt more than our friendship, she scolded me. And here she was, doing the exact same, no, doing worse.

It was hard, having someone die for you. Harder than most people can ever imagine. I suppose I was a hypocrite too. After all, even if I never wanted anyone to die for me again, here I was constantly doing the same for others.

I really was the worst of the worst.

It was when I had woken up the next day, to a set of worried parents in a hospital, that I realized completely what had happened. My three friends were dead, all of them, and there wasn't anything I could do about it. When my body continued to heal at the rate of a normal person, the realization that even Shinobu was lost was a blow that took my breath away, left me with tears in my eyes. I had always thought that the two of us would always be together, the twisted Master and Subordinate, the impudent human and the incorrigible vampire that lived in his shadow. And just like that, it was all gone.

It was Hanekawa's words that lingered the most, I think. That there deaths were just a way to repay what I had done for each of them in the past. I think that was when I began to believe in the credo 'all debts were repaid'. It was the only thing that let me go on for a bit, that what had happened was just the nature of things, that it was just a law of nature, of the Nightworld.

I had to believe it. That it was just the way of things, because if I didn't than it would mean that their deaths, their sacrifice… it was all my fault: if I hadn't gotten involved, if I hadn't tried to help them, than they never would have died.

So I had gone on. I couldn't die for them, not after they had worked so hard to make sure I would live, not when dying would make their sacrifice in vein. So I had just continued on, trying to live a life that would be worthy of what they had given for me.

Until I learned that I wasn't as free from the Nightworld as I had thought. Until a fox had given me a way to repay at least one of the ones who had died for me.

"There's something that has been bothering me, midget," it was again Sakaki who spoke, dragging me from my recollection. The brawler had that diffident look of his, the one that said 'Hey, I'm actually kind of interested, but I have to pretend I'm not, so don't mind me,' that he tended to use when he was about to do some prying of his own. "This whole time, you haven't used a single bit of martial arts."

"Sakaki… is right," Shigure noted as well, still standing by as my body regenerated. She looked less concerned than she had right after she had cut off my fingers, but she still seemed subdued.

"Martial arts were made by humans, for humans," I explained, my eyes closing as I gave a rueful little smile. "Something that isn't human shouldn't have the right to use them."

"That is not… right!" Shigure snapped, and when I opened my eyes it was to find her own narrowed as she gave that glare of hers. "Human or not human… doesn't matter. You are our… are MY Disciple! Now…" she raised her sword again, and I realized that my refusal to use the skills that my Masters had imparted to me, that she herself had imparted to me, had genuinely offended the woman. "…pick up your vines!"

It was such an incongruous order, that it actually took me a second to understand what she was saying. When I did, I couldn't suppress a small snort of incredulous laughter. It looked like Shigure was less concerned about me not using martial arts in general than she was in me not using her martial arts specifically. After taking so long to actually start using her style, it seemed that Shigure wasn't quite willing to let me put them aside so casually.

It looked like Shigure had a bit of a selfish side too.

Again, I reached out and grasped a bundle of the hanging vines in my hand, pulling them down and free. A bit of the roof behind me buckled and finally gave out in a brief shower of plaster and steel as the abuse the battle had been putting on the room itself began to reach dangerous levels. Another section of the roof began to groan and buckle, but managed to hold on a little longer.

"We should end this soon," I noted, taking the new length of vine in my hands, pulling it taught as I took the stance Shigure had taught me for using a kusarigami. Shigure nodded at my words, but she seemed more intent on the way I had obediently taken up her style again. If anything, she seemed to be smiling just a little at the sight of me preparing to fight her with the moves she taught me.

"I… agree," she declared, lifting her sword again. At first I thought she would take her normal position, but then she began to sink down, and the presence of her Ki began to rise dangerously. I realized what she was about to do, and flinched back, incredulous at the thought of what I was about to face. She couldn't seriously be about to…

"Shigure!" Sakaki also recognized what was about to happen, and the brawler lurched to his feet, disbelief obvious on his face. "Don't!"

"This is… the whip of love," Shigure announced, nodding firmly as she did so.

"Oh cr…" was as far as I got before she moved.

"Shinto Gourenzan!" she shouted, and again I was treated to the sight of the pinnacle of swordsmanship. However, this time it wasn't as a witness, but as a target.

Pain. Pain like nothing I had ever felt before echoed through me. I had taken some pretty serious hits in my time, both in my time as a martial artist and before when I had been more involved in the Nightworld. This though, this was something on a whole other level as razor sharp steel bit into me from all sides. I was only briefly able to identify the fact that Shigure wasn't even using the back of her sword this time, and then it was over, the move so fast that I couldn't respond to it even with my monstrous speed.

I felt more than heard or saw Shigure settle behind me, had a moment to wonder just what had happened, and then I erupted, sprays of blood showering out of me like something from a cheesy samurai movie.

"Wha…?" I could barely mouth the beginning of a question, starting to turn in surprise or dismay, I wasn't sure which, when the move apparently shook my body enough for the true nature of Shigure's attack to be apparent.

All over my body, from wounds so thin and shallow that they might as well have been carved by a surgeon's scalpels, the vines that had been perforating my body began to fall off, having been cut out of my flesh by Shigure's ultimate attack. I could do nothing but give the swordmistress a beleaguered look as the true scope of the speed and accuracy of her attack became apparent to me.

I couldn't help but wonder if maybe both of us didn't qualify for the title of 'monster' when confronted by something like this.

"Shigure-san!" Miu shrieked, sounding both horrified and enraged at what the weapon user had done. "This is way over the line!"

"What were you thinking?" Sakaki demanded, as even someone as comfortable with excessive violence as he couldn't stay silent at the sight.

"That he… can regenerate," Shigure pointed out, sheathing her sword as she did so.

"You have to be… kidding…" I began, unable to actually believe that the moment Shigure had learned of my healing ability she latched onto it, worked it into her battle plan, and then factored it into a strike which she had been counting on to completely free me from the embrace of the vines. I wasn't able to complete my sentence as the damage from her attack finally completed, and my thin frame lost all strength and started to collapse.

Before I had hit the floor, Shigure had already caught me, cradling me gently in her arms as she lowered the bone thin frame to rest in her arms.

"Keni…chi?" she began, speaking softly as she gave me a worried look like only Shigure could give.

"Shit!" Sakaki swore, and in a second he was just as close, apparently having deemed the duel over as he moved to help support me. "Shigure, I'm not sure if you're a genius or just reckless, but good job!"

"Did it work?" Niijima demanded, though it didn't look like he had any intention to get any closer.

"Wait," Sakaki muttered, hand running up and down the skeletal frame in his fellow Master's arms. "He's not moving. What's…"

The brawler trailed off, eyes widening in shock and Shigure flinched away as the slim frame in the arms began to crumble, echoing the motion of my fingers earlier as it began to dissolve into nothing. Shigure flinched back again, as the realization that she had just apparently killed her Disciple must have struck through her.

"Have I mentioned lately," I began, watching the whole scene with wonder, "just how crazy you Masters are?"

"Kenichi!" Sakaki shouted, frantically looking between the dissolving body and the room around, trying to figure out where my voice was coming from.

"It's just like before," Takeda shouted, also spinning around as he tried to locate me, though he too kept looking back to the now mostly dissolved body. "Where is the voice coming from?"

"Forget the voice," Miu cried out, spinning wildly, though she herself refused to look at the vanishing body. "What is going on here!"

"There!" Chikage's voice was sharp, and her hand snapped up to point at the corner of the basement that had once been my resting place.

It must have been an incomprehensible sight to those uninitiated into the Nightworld before today, but hovering over the shattered desks were the vines that had been attached to my body. They writhed around each other, looking much like a nest of snakes might.

And forming in the middle of the twisting mass, a new body was beginning to form. First bones, then a thin layer of muscle, followed by skin. It had started with a head, and was working its way down from there.

Watching with my new eyes, I tried to shrug shoulders which were only just beginning to form.

"Didn't I say before, that one of a vampire's abilities was to shape shift?" I reminded them, the voice coming as much from the vines around me as the mouth which didn't really have vocal chords at this point.

"The hell?" Sakaki muttered, too busy gaping at my reforming body to even respond to my question. The room as a whole seemed shocked to stillness as they witnessed something which should truly be impossible for the first time.

"I'd always loved plants," I continued, closing my eyes briefly and grimacing as the sensation of such a massive regeneration continued. "Someone once asked me what I would chose to be reincarnated as, and I told them a tree. I always loved gardening too, watching the tiny sprouts form and grow. Even you," I opened my eyes to face my Masters directly, "tend to compare my training to a plant whenever my progress comes up. It should be no surprise that this," I gestured a partially grown arm, only just up to an elbow, at the room around me, "is what I ended up choosing."

"I don't understand," Chikage seemed the least shocked by the spectacle before her, though even she seemed a little repulsed as she watched me reform. "Just what is all this?"

"This IS my body now," I told her, twitching as I did so. All around the room, vines which had previously been dormant writhed slightly, repositioning themselves as the impulse went down and through them all. "Shape shifting can be used in many ways. Some vampires just turn their arms into weapons; others take the shape of other animals or monsters. For me, I was always better at turning my body into plants."

Honestly, it was the only true vampiric power besides regeneration that I had ever used, the desperation of saving Hanekawa the only thing that could prompt me into feeling inhuman enough to use an ability back then. When I had begun my desperate quest to restore Shinobu, this was the only real ability I felt sure that I would be able to use properly. And so I had worked hard to develop that skill. This, this was the results.

"So all of this…" Niijima began, and even the Alien seemed unnerved by what I was explaining.

"My organs, my flesh," I nodded, feeling hips begin to form. "My blood vessels, my sinew, my ligaments, my muscles: nearly every bit of my body, altered and spread throughout the building."

It gave a whole new meaning to the scene they had witnessed earlier, and judging from the collective shudders and wide eyes, it seemed that they were finally beginning to understand just how deep my resolve was. Those vines had never been growing into me, they had been growing out of me. The vines they had cut earlier hadn't been drinking my blood, they had been carrying it as any part of a body should.

"Oh god they really are tentacles," Kisara whimpered, apparently falling back on her earlier phobia when her mind could find nothing else to hold on to. "Kiddo is a tentacle monster!"

"I guess this is why he could hear us, even all the way down here," Sakaki muttered, eyes narrowed as he began to put the pieces together. Beside him, Shigure was alternating between staring at the nearly gone remains of my previous frame, and turning to look at me as my body continued to reshape itself. "Or how we could hear you. Or how I couldn't sense your exact location."

"This, this can't be happening," Takeda growled, slamming a fist into a palm. "Even if vampires are real, I've never heard of one being able to do something like this!"

"Of course not," I nodded at Takeda's declaration. This scene really was pretty far outside of the normal legends of vampires. "I'm not really a vampire, after all. And no real vampire would ever do something like this."

"Why not?" Chikage asked, still in good student mode apparently. Her eyes narrowed a bit. "And if you're not a vampire, than just what are you, Band-Aid?"

"Because this is insane," I pointed out bluntly. "My body is so spread out that my mind can barely control it. There is no way to flee if a hunter or an exorcist were to come, barely any way to fight like this. I'm honestly not sure if it's possible for me to recover from what I've done to myself."

It was the truth at this point. It was hard to manage my form when it was so spread out like this, which was probably the reason that I was so confused earlier when they arrived. More than that, it had taken a lot of power to change myself so much, had forced my mindset away from humanity to such an extent that I wasn't certain I fully remembered what being human felt like at this point. It was the source of my constant lethargy, the reason that even now I could feel my thoughts starting to drift away slowly.

"Why!" Miu demanded, tearing up again as she came to realize just how badly I've warped myself. Her legs gave out on her as she collapsed to a kneeling position. She struck the floor, pounding her fists into it in frustration and helpless rage, before she realized that she had struck a set of the vines that composed my body and flinched away as realization hit her again. "Why would you do this, Kenichi-san?"

"Because even if this body will be ripped apart, and my soul will be smashed up, I will save Shinobu," I repeated my earlier oath, unable to keep a brief wry smile from quirking my lips, as the literal nature of my oath became evident.

I felt more awake now than I could easily recall having felt in some time. That final blow of Shigure's, the sudden pain, it seemed that it had been enough to truly jolt me into wakefulness for the first time since I had begun to change myself.

And with this sudden awareness, came the awareness of something else, something I nearly couldn't believe…

"So just what are you?" Chikage repeated her earlier question, head cocked to the side as she pressed.

"I don't think there is a name for what I am," I shook my head slowly. "The closest title would probably be 'abomination'."

"Don't call… yourself that," Shigure murmured, finally pushing herself back into a standing position as she turned to face me again. It looked like whatever shock to her emotions that seeing me collapse and begin to dissolve had caused had faded enough for her to return to a functioning state. "I hate it when… you call yourself that."

"But that's what I am," I pointed out in return, remembering how she nearly came to blows with a wolf for using that word, and how she had attacked a fox outright for saying them. "I'm not quite a vampire, but not quite human. I'm not precisely a hybrid of some sort, and I don't even qualify for being a dampyr, the child of a human and a vampire. I'm just something which is almost but not quite, something which didn't quite manage to fit into anything else. I suppose, if I had to choose a word for what I am, for what both Shinobu and I were, I would use the word 'Kizumono'."

Kizumono, the word for broken or despoiled things, a word for damaged goods. That probably was the best word to describe Shinobu and I: two people who had hurt the other profoundly, yet still couldn't give up on the other, who had needed the other to survive, who had even cared for the other deeply despite the pain we caused each other.

"I don't… like it," Shigure declared, folding her arms under her breast, her father's sword still sheathed and clutched in one hand. "It makes it sound… like someone else got you first."

"Shigure-san," Miu snapped, giving a glare at the older woman as she got the probably intended double meaning behind Shigure's word. Sometimes Kizumono was also used to describe a woman who had lost their virginity, after all. I found myself a little disturbed by the fact that I couldn't tell if that was what Shigure was actually implying the sexual connotations on purpose, and even more disturbed when I realized that I couldn't tell if she was joking or not.

"I think," I began, and flexed my toes briefly as they finally finished reforming. Around me, a number of vines rose, curling around my waist once more in an impromptu method of maintaining my dignity. I'm not sure if it counted, since I was effectively wrapping my own mutated organs around me, but I suppose it didn't hurt to try. "I think I need to thank you all," I finally confessed.

"For what?" Sakaki growled, and just like Miu he seemed to be overcome by his frustration, smashing the floor he had been kneeling on. When Sakaki did it, there were a lot more in the way of shattered cement than when Miu did it. Several of my vines were nicked, though they only bled for a moment before they healed up.

"I think I was dying, before you came," I admitted, one hand coming up to scratch at my head awkwardly. "I was just so tired I was unable to wake up. If you hadn't come, I might have just slipped away entirely, losing all trace of my consciousness and becoming nothing more than a beast that lived in this place." I might well have become something entirely different than a vampire or a Kizumono, maybe a new species of Kai that did nothing but spread and feed until it was finally found and destroyed by an exorcist. If they hadn't shown up, hadn't pulled me from my lethargy, than not only would I have failed at my plan but I would have become a creature that truly fed on humanity.

"Thankful enough to call this whole thing off and come home?" Niijima chirped, the Alien raising his hand as though in class. "With my beloved cash cow back at my side, and a vampire to boot, think of the profits that could be made!" he declared evilly, hands splaying at his side as he began to cackle maniacally.

"God damn it, Alien, not the time!" Ukita bellowed, taking a swing at the other boy. Niijima tried to dodge like normal, but gave a surprised yelp as he suddenly found his feet bound by vines, and instead got hit right in the face by the equally surprised judo user.

I think it was the first time Ukita ever actually hit Niijima, despite numerous efforts.

"In the future, try not to plot your evil plans about the Kai when you are effectively standing in what could become a digestive system in a matter of moments," I told him dryly, almost feeling like it was just the two of us back in class, me shooting down another of my bad friend's twisted scams.

"Noted," Niijima told me awkwardly, clutching his nose where Ukita had struck him. I nodded, and released the vines on his feet. Niijima idly shook his legs, apparently not the least bit disturbed by the encounter. Behind Ukita, Kisara had witnessed the whole thing, and apparently decided that to avoid any potential encounter of her own with the 'tentacles' she leapt up so she could climb on the surprised Ukita's back completely.

Shiritori looked like he was about to do the same, and I seriously began to wonder just what was up with the other boy.

"And you, Shigure-san," I continued, turning my attention back to my Master. Shigure seemed resigned as well, and I think the realization of just how far I had gone had taken the fight out of her. After all, just how were they going to stop me, when I was curled throughout the entire building? "I need to thank you especially."

"Wh…y?" Shigure cocked her head to the side a bit, perking a bit at my singling of her out.

"Because if you hadn't cut me up that much, I never would have realized what I was doing wrong," I told her, and was treated to the sight of my Master wilting a bit, settling again into that strange expressionless pout she tended to use. I think maybe she was hoping that maybe I would single out her confession as what I was thanking her for.

"How… rude," she muttered, her typical response to most of Ryouzanpaku when they implied that she tended to be a bit more dangerous to be around than the rest of them.

"In return for telling me what the fox told you," I continued, reaching out to start gathering more of the vines in my hand. I would need a whole lot of them for what came next. "Let me tell you precisely what she told me.

"There were three things I needed in order to resurrect Shinobu," I continued, my tone serious. "The first was power. When the two of us were together, there was a literal bond between us. In order to keep her alive in her diminished state, I had to give her some of my blood every day, to return a bit of her power to her. It would make me a bit more vampire for a time, but only for a little while before it faded. In effect, we were both sharing the same power, and because of that, my power was directly related to hers. The stronger I was, the stronger she was. If I was going to bring her back, I needed to be a lot more powerful. That was why I was hunting vampires," I confessed. "To take their blood and power as my own."

"Does anyone else think that this is a little ominous," Ukita muttered, adjusting his shades. By him, both Thor and Siegfried nodded. I ignored them as I continued.

"The second thing I needed was my shadow," I pressed on. "After a while, Shinobu started to be able to use my shadow as a home, a way to get the power she needed to survive without drinking my blood and also be close enough to help me if anything happened. That's what all this…" I waved at the vine covered basement, the building as a whole, "is about."

"What do you mean, Band-Aid?" Chikage's response was instantaneous, the knowledge of the Kai I was imparting to her probably the aspect she considered most important about this entire encounter.

"I needed a shadow, the bigger the better," I explained, gesturing around the room. "Just about my whole body is wrapped around and through this building. Just about all the light here is falling on me, and all the darkness here is in effect my shadow. This basement in particular has the deepest shadows. Heck, this place right here could almost be considered to be inside of me."

"I've been… inside Kenichi," Shigure muttered. "I always thought… it would be Kenichi in me," she mused a second later.

"Shigure-san!" Miu snapped, once more glowering at the older woman as Shigure continued to push the lines of propriety. Even I had to give the Master a careful look. Was she just teasing again, or trying to lighten the situation with a joke? Or maybe she was being serious…

I was beginning to wonder just what might have happened if things had been a bit different and Shigure had been able to confess to me normally. I honestly had no idea just what dealing with a Master class fighter that lacked so many conventional social graces and was in love with me would have been like, but I was beginning to have the suspicions that it would have been a very unique experience.

"And the final thing that was needed to wake Shinobu up," I pressed on, deciding not to dwell too much on things that might have been, "is blood."

"Oi," Sakaki snapped up, a wary look on his face as he glanced around him, hearing the final key to Shinobu's awakening and coming to dreadful conclusion. "You don't mean…" he trailed off, already backing towards the Shinpaku Alliance while giving me a cautious look, putting himself between me and them.

"No," I shook my head instantly, understanding what he was worrying about. "Not yours. It was while you all were fighting my vines, that I realized something. And when Shigure finally cut my body to pieces, it was like I was truly awake, and that was when I felt it: she's waking up to." My smile grew as I tightened my grip on the vines. "All I need now is more of my blood."

With a violent motion, I yanked, tearing the vines in my grip in half with the force. Blood erupted from both ends of the ripped tendrils, showering down on me, bursting out in gouts on the room in general.

"Kenichi!" cries erupted from my gathered friends, but I paid them no heed. I could feel it, the bond I had spoken of, the one I hadn't realized I had had with Shinobu until it had been gone, too diminished for me to even believe it existed. But all the time, it had been there.

In a dark place that defied logical explanation, I felt her stir.

"Shit!" Ukita swore though I paid him only cursory attention. Instead, I called forth more of my tendrils, tearing into them as well. More. I needed more blood. "This is just like some kind of scene from an anime, right before they summon the demon lord or something!" He sounded half hysterical, as though he was grasping for some sort of humor in order to help make sense of the situation.

"That…" Niijima began, and then stopped, his expression growing wary. "That's a damn good point," the other boy admitted, sounding nervous now.

"Who cares about anime," Sakaki snapped, trying to get close enough to stop me from my self-mutilation, only to find himself contributing as he had to fight off the vines I put in his path. He seemed to realize that by fighting the tendrils I put between him and I he was only helping my cause, shedding more of my blood. "Shigure, stop him!"

"Ho…w?" Shigure demanded, the other Master just as stymied from trying to stop me as Sakaki was.

"Oi, Kenichi!" Niijima ignored the two, apparently having found something else to focus on. "You said that this Shinobu, or Kiss Acerola, or whatever her name is, is really strong, right? Just how strong are we talking?"

"The strongest of her kind. She was to vampires what Masters are too regular humans!" I declared, gritting my teeth as I struggled to force more and more of my body within my reach, tearing every bit I could reach. The room was turning into a study in crimson, the blood stains spreading. Even as the older blood began to flake and return more and more fresh blood was there to take its place.

"Holy shit!" Ukita swore, finally making the connection. Earlier, none of them had really believed me when I had claimed that I had been turned into a vampire, and hadn't really paid attention when I had described the strength of Kiss Shot. Now though, after what they had seen, disbelief wasn't really an option anymore. "He really is summoning a demon lord!"

"Come on," Sakaki snapped back, still fending off my tendrils as best he could, and still unwillingly aiding me in shedding my own blood. "How bad can it be? I mean, after this, what's the worst that could happen?"

"She may return in a berserk state, drain all my blood, and return herself to her full power and me to being a full vampire," I admitted bluntly, listing just what the worst really could be. "Then, as the Master vampire she could compel me, the Subordinate, to drink blood, destroying my inhibitions to kill. Afterwards, the one most suited for the title 'Queen of the Night' would have a consort, a vampire of her own bloodline made stronger by having fed on other vampires, and trained in the martial arts by some of the best Masters in the world as well."

"Okay," Sakaki paused as he took in my worst case scenario, even he looking a little unnerved at the scenario I painted. "The worst could be pretty bad." The brawler redoubled his effort to reach me, to make me stop, and in return I met him with more vines, gladly supplying them to be torn apart.

"Con… sort?" Shigure muttered, also increasing her force only to be met with the same blockade.

"Okay, in that case," Niijima began, running a hand through his hair, his eyes narrowed as he desperately struggled to analyze the situation. "What's the best that could happen?"

"She comes back and resumes her life in my shadow," I supplied, and shuddered as a combination of the damage I was doing to myself was joined with yet another stirring that only I could feel. "I regain the majority of my humanity, returning to the life I had before as best I could, and everything goes back as close to the way it used to be as possible."

"And what do you think is the most likely to happen?" Niijima challenged, eyes locking on to mine. I met his gaze squarely, cringing as more of my blood poured out of me. It might be necessary, it might be healing almost as quickly as the wounds were inflicted, but it was still my body, and it still hurt. Maybe I really was becoming a masochist.

"That I fail, and that I die," I admitted just as easily as before.

"And you're still going on with this?" Miu demanded, pushing forward from where she had been frozen earlier. "You're still going to do this, Kenichi-san?"

"I swore that I would no longer turn my back on the things others looked away from," I raised my chin, fierce as the stirring increased even more. Soon! Just a little more blood… "And before that, I swore that if tomorrow she died my life would last no longer than tomorrow- and if today she lived than I too would live." With resolution, I met even Miu's angry glare. "I thought I failed before. I won't fail now."

"And what are we supposed to do if you do end up becoming a vampire again?" Miu demanded, now desperate as she seemed prepared to enter the battle, before hesitating as more of my blood spilled in front of her, staining her shoes briefly before it started to flake.

"I've told you all you need to know to fight vampires. If it's still daylight, you should have no problems," I turned my gaze to Chikage, and the young Disciple gave one quick nod, no doubt having paid close attention to my lessons. She had already had some experience with dealing with the Kai from when Kushinada had been employing me, and had most likely received even more training from her Master. She would be ready.

As though to confirm my estimation, she reached up, and briefly tugged the edge of her Miko kimono aside. There, nestled against the inner folds of her clothing, a glint of familiar silver shown: the very cross I had sold her Master before.

"Kenichi!" It was one of the few times I had ever heard Shigure speak without her usual pause. "You can't mean for us to kill you?" As though to show just how upset the older Master was at my statement, I was suddenly gifted with a great deal of blood for my cause as the weaponmistress decided to stop holding back nearly as much as she had been. I had to redouble the amount of my body I was dedicating to keeping her from getting closer, nearly being able to stop my own unending tearing entirely as my blood flowed freely.

Closer. Closer. Just a little more!

"I warned you," I reminded Shigure, no, everyone at large. "I told you that you shouldn't come." I had told them. I had said before that there were things which couldn't be unseen, that once you knew what occurred behind the play of reality you could never see things as you once did.

"Enough."

I almost didn't recognize the voice. It was in a tone so unfamiliar, that I actually thought that it was a new speaker, someone who had managed to actually penetrate the building which was my body without me noticing. When the weight of a new Ki formed, I actually wondered if maybe just that had occurred, that some new Master had appeared on the scene.

Instead, when I snapped my head in the direction of the new voice, it was to see Miu, standing firm like I had never seen her before. Her hands were clenched into fists, elbows cocked to her side in a stance which bespoke violence like only someone trained in the martial arts could recognize. I had thought before, that when Miu tended to get violent she always ended up insufferably cute.

That wasn't the case right now.

Miu's eyes were like some horrible cross between razor sharp daggers and endless pits. They somehow managed to cut even while they drew you in. And the force of her spirit, the feel of her power, it was enough for me to know that someday the girl in front of me would be a Master, and even among Masters she would rank herself far higher than most could dream to aspire to.

"Enough," Miu said again, this new and terrible version of her as set as a granite pillar. "This ends now! Kenichi, I won't let you throw yourself away like this! I will stop you, and once we're back in Ryouzanpaku we will find some other way to help your friend! A way which doesn't endanger you, one where you can help your friend and still stay safe! Do you hear, me, Kenichi!"

Okay. Wow. I wasn't certain whether I was scared, or a little smitten at hearing that speech. Miu was so determined, so absolutely confident, that I couldn't help but believe that not only did she mean her words, but she would follow through with them without fail.

She didn't even put an honorific on my name, and that also sent a small thrill through me as well.

"Miu has released her dou Ki," Sakaki muttered, sounding equal parts annoyed as impressed. "Looks like there's no holding her back anymore." He snorted, and despite the dire situation, he seemed proud of the girl which was part Disciple and probably part niece in his eyes. "The old man is gonna be pissed about this!"

"She's right," Takeda spoke up as well. The boxer seemed to have found his own resolve, and despite the situation he looked to have achieved his own resolution as well. "No way in hell am I letting a friend of mine alone again. If I gotta give both arms this time, than that's just the way it is."

"Right," it was Freya's turn to speak up. "I still have a debt to Kenichi-kun as well." The staff in her hands was whirling, and it seemed the services I had given her and her grandfather a while back were forefront on her mind as she turned to the mass of blood and flailing vines before her.

"Kisara-san," Ukita began, giving an awkward glance at the girl still on his back. "It would be easier to fight if you could get down…"

"Tentacles," Kisara whimpered, before swallowing hard and releasing the judo user's back. With a look of despair, she too set herself for the fight. "Kiddo, when we get out of this you're getting me a dozen kittens," she muttered, probably speaking too softly for anyone but me to hear.

"Lalalala!" Siegfried hummed, a subdued but still strong tune. "The symphony of friendship once more!"

"We still haven't had chanko!" Thor agreed, clapping his hands together before settling himself in a sumo stance, already preparing to bull forward.

"Well, midget?" Sakaki grunted as he tore through me while trying to reach me. "You might have your resolution, but that doesn't mean the rest of us gotta go with it!"

"What now… Kenichi?" The only one here who equaled Miu's inescapable draw was Shigure at this point, a whirlwind of steel and lavender that could only appear in the most beautiful of nightmares. She had actually managed to draw closer to my human form, the only one so far whose will to save me was great enough to even allow her to hurt me to do it.

What could I do when faced with this kind of resolve? What could I possibly say to the people who cared for me so fiercely that even in my present state they wouldn't give up on me?

"I don't deserve friends like you," I sighed, wishing that my vow to avoid martial arts hadn't been made. If I could sink myself in the Ryuusei Seikuken then it would be far easier to deal with the turmoil their decision instilled in me.

"Your eyes again, Kenichi," Miu noted, still fierce in her resolution. Obediently, one hand came up to confirm her observation.

More blood for the floor. Again, it wasn't tears that came from my eyes, just more blood.

"It's a vampire thing," I shrugged helplessly. Closing my eyes, I continued. "I don't deserve friends like all of you. I'm sorry."

"Sorry enough to give this up and come back?" Niijima asked, his tone wary.

"No," I shook my head. "I'm sorry because it's too late."

In that place in the dark, a place beyond logic, that which had just been stirring stilled. I don't know how I knew, but I was certain that the motion which occurred next was that of an eye opening.

There was no warning to my Masters or the gathered Shinpaku members. They only had a moment to comprehend my statement, and then the ceiling collapsed, chunks of concrete and steel being spread like shrapnel as a pillar composed of intertwined vines drove through it. This whole building was my body now, and there was far more of it present than just what was in this room. Above this little battle, I had gathered myself, and now it was time to act.

The pillar continued, even as the rest of the room flinched back instinctively to protect itself. Shigure, the only one close enough to be endangered by the new intrusion had to throw herself out of its path, back and away from me, but none of the vines made any move to stop her. The force and speed of the gathered portion of my body should have driven it through the basement floor, but rather than impact it just vanished, disappearing as it hit not the physical form of the room, but rather my shadow.

It slid into the darkness as though it were nothing more than a screen over a door, vanishing into the depths of the shade.

"Time to wake up, Shinobu," I muttered softly, a voice which was probably lost in the cacophony of falling ceiling.

I could feel it, as my vines wrapped around the thing dwelling within my darkest part. My leaves brushed against skin, entwining around limbs which weren't present and feeling fingers which didn't exist sink into them.

With a shout of triumph I pulled, and when my body emerged from my shadow, it cradled within it the form of Kiss Shot Acerola Orion Hearts Under Blade, now called Shinobu Oshino, reemerged into the world which she had been absent from for far too long.

"Oh crap," Niijima said plainly as she came free. Trust the Alien to realize just how dangerous the situation had become.

She looked different. Before, after I had taken back most of my humanity, she had barely been able to maintain the shape of an eight year old, a tiny and immature frame. Maybe it was because of all of the blood I had shed to wake her up, or maybe it was due to the change in the nature of my power from all my cannibalistic feeding, but this new Shinobu was noticeably different from the one in my memory.

Rather than appearing like some immature eight year old, this looked more like a rather well developed mid teen: blond hair, thin and graceful limbs, and a figure which rivaled even Miu's developed form. She looked more like she did after I had finished recovering both her legs than she had when she had just been living in my shadow.

Cradled in my body, I felt her stir, her arms reaching up to stretch as my vines moved away to give her space, and when her eyes fluttered open I was greeted by familiar albeit confused crimson orbs.

"Verily," Shinobu murmured, smacking her lips as though she were waking from nothing more than a long nap. "What is this?"

"Oh crap," Niijima repeated swallowing as he took in Shinobu for the first time. He swallowed hard, and I didn't blame him. There had always been something unearthly about Shinobu. It had been greatly diminished for most of the time I knew her, a result of the loss of her power, but at her most mature she had just been something… something greater than mankind: the kind of thing which would inspire even a confused teenager to gladly lay his life down for her at her request, even when maimed and dying.

It was like she was real in a way that you couldn't ever manage to be, even if you tried all your life to be so.

As though the rest of the room was frozen, unable to believe that what they had tried to prevent was happening at this very moment, no one made a sound as Shinobu continued to stretch, looking around in confusion before finally glancing down, settling her gaze on her own body.

"I live?" she murmured, her voice dulcet and soothing. "How is it that I live? Surely, my sacrifice should have been the end for even one such as myself?" Her voice was archaic, using speech patterns which had been out of fashion for literally centuries. She had learned Japanese almost two hundred years ago, after all. Slowly, she brought her hands in front of her, examining her fingers before she slowly clenched them into fists. Her head fell forward, her hair falling in a wave to form a golden curtain around her face as she began to shake. Many in the room began to tense, wondering just what reaction this creature would have, my worst case scenario no doubt running through their minds at the moment as both Sakaki and Shigure began to tense, preparing themselves.

Finally, Shinobu moved.

"Yahoo!" she shouted, laughing as she did so. She threw one hand up into the air in victory as she jumped in place. "Verily! I live again! Hahahahaha!" The most powerful vampire in the world began to spin happily, actually skipping as she began to bounce around in a circle. "I know not by what measure such a thing has happened, nor do I care! Yahoo!"

"This is the queen of the vampires?" Takeda muttered in disbelief, though I noticed that his eyes never strayed from the now prancing Shinobu. I chalked it up to him still being worried about a possible attack until I realized the way his pupils were moving up and down. When I saw both Kisara and Shiritori reaching up to cover Ukita's eyes and the way Miu was starting to blush I realized just what it was that the boxer was most likely looking at.

I couldn't really blame him. A bouncing naked Shinobu in her more developed form was probably a sight to see. If I wasn't too busy sinking to my knees in relief, I would probably have enjoyed the show a little more myself.

"Oh?" Shinobu continued, still skipping in a circle like a kid as she started running her hand down over her body as though checking to see if she was really whole once more. "What tis this? Not only do I live, but my bosoms have returned as well! Kakaka!" she gave a delighted cackle as she hefted the particular part of her body triumphantly. I think even Sakaki twitched at the blunt and irreverent declaration. Then, quite suddenly for no discernible reason Shinobu froze, standing absolutely still.

"What is she doing?" Niijima muttered, starting to back up so he could put more of the experienced fighters between him and the potential homicidal monster. The room tensed, worrying over what caused the sudden change in the creature before them before Shinobu whirled, folding her arms and standing proudly.

"Behold!" she declared imperiously. "I have just circumvented the world six and a half times!"

"Seriously?" Thor gasped, flinching away from the vampire, the thought of someone actually being capable of such a feat probably not as impossible as it had been this morning. "She can move at the speed of light?"

"Of course she didn't," I sighed, shaking my head as I couldn't suppress a smile. "After all, that would have left her somewhere in the Americas. You need new material, Shinobu." She had said the same thing to me immediately after I had finished recovering all her limbs and her heart, and back then I had been stupid enough to believe it too.

"Do not spoil the punch line, Master!" Shinobu scolded me, though she was still laughing as she did so.

"This is the so called 'Queen of the Vampires'?" Kisara muttered, clearly disturbed by the cheerful and undignified actions of a creature that literally fed on humans to survive." Beside her, Kisara gave a mute nod, though her eyes were narrowed as she continued to glare at Shinobu's recently returned chest.

"I do not know how thou hast done this, Master, but surely this is an abomination in the eyes of all that worship the holy," Shinobu continued, finally coming down enough from her euphoria to turn to face me directly, grinning as she did so. "Surely thou has… thou has," slowly, the blonde vampire began to trail off, her eyes finally taking in the sight of myself as her smile started to vanish. As her eyes narrowed and her arm returned to a folded position that was much more ominous this time, I found myself fidgeting.

"Master," Shinobu began, still glaring at me as she began to tap one bare foot against the shattered cement patiently. "Just what hast thou done to thy self in my absence?" She spoke in such a reasonable tone that I just knew I was in trouble.

"Uh," I began, reaching up with one hand, idly brushing a vine dangling from it behind me as though to hide the evidence of my actions. Finally I shrugged, and gave the still patiently waiting Shinobu a hopeful smile. "What I needed to?"

It did not appear to be the right answer, and Shinobu disappeared, reappearing instantly in front of me so she could tower above me as she glowered furiously down at me. With one hand she casually slapped my cheek, the motion looking much like what an angry girl would do to a disrespectful fellow who came on to them a little too strong. Despite the casualness of the motion, the force of the blow collapsed my skull, literally smashing pieces of my head in a wide splatter, grey matter, bones, and even splashes of the liquid of my eyes mixed together to stain against the wall.

"Kenichi-san!" Miu's cry was desperate, laced with utter horror and disbelief as I was so casually struck down before any of them could so much as even suspect an attack.

"Evil vampire!" Niijima gulped, eyes wide as he finally got something a bit more alongside his expectations of my so called 'demon lord summoning ritual'. "Definitely evil vampire!"

"No!" Sakaki swore, one hand coming up as though to stop what had just happened, to capture the moment and force it into reverse. "No! Not after…" he began, before he trailed off, eyes widening as he caught sight of what was happening to me first.

Just as before, the pieces of my body that had been separated began to flake. I was pretty close to a vampire at the moment, after all, and a vampire could regenerate any part of itself. Even the brain, which maybe the martial artists around me had unconsciously excluded from any appraisal of my healing, was no different.

As my mouth and face began to reform, I gave a weak shrug. "I probably deserved that," I admitted as soon as the human part of me had regained enough shape to talk properly.

"Thou most certainly did," Shinobu sniffed, still glaring at me, before she slapped me again, once more splattering my skull against the nearby wall and floor.

"And that too," I admitted after another round of regeneration, a smile beginning to form as I watched Shinobu fume over me.

"Thou," Shinobu fumed, still glaring down at me as she pointed her fingers of the hand that had been casually beheading me moments ago. "Thou utter fool! For what reason could thou possibly chose to do such a thing to thyself! Did thou seek to make my sacrifice be in vain?" She stomped angrily, the motion shattering a good bit of the floor beneath her and rattling the room, causing my vines to sway as though they had been caught in an earthquake. Despite my oldest friend's anger, I felt my smile grow. It was the wrong move to make, and the furious vampire caught sight of it. "And now thou art smiling? For what do thou smile? Has thou become the masochist thou accused me of being so long ago? Stop smiling!"

"You're alive," I whispered, unable to voice anything else. I blinked, feeling more blood well up in my eyes as I couldn't hold back my joy, my relief at seeing her in front of me once more, of hearing her voice again after so long thinking it was gone forever. "I can't believe it, but you're really alive."

Shinobu froze at my words, blinking and I swear a small surprised blush spread on her cheeks at hearing the obvious relief in my tone. For a moment she seemed frozen at seeing me be so obviously sentimental about her safety. Then she sighed, glancing away with a huff.

"Thou art a fool," she muttered, stomping again, before she sighed, her hands falling to her side. "An idiot, and a moron, a stupid virgin," she continued, before she seemed unable to suppress a smile of her own. Gently this time she reached out to touch my cheek, turning my head up so she could meet my eyes, that ghastly grin appearing as a ghost on her lips as she pulled me forward until my head could rest just under her chest, her arms wrapping around my shoulders gently. "I still have not forgiven thee, thou knows this?"

"Nor I you," I returned to her. It was a strange scene, the two of us naked, one kneeling and the other standing, one looking blonde and healthy, the other thin and deformed.

Somehow it was like crossing the threshold to Ryouzanpaku after a long trip. It felt like coming home.

"Get away from Kenichi-san!" I had honestly forgotten that the two of us had an audience as I let myself relax in Shinobu's embrace. The same lethargy from earlier was starting to return, a sign of just how greatly I had taxed my body, mind, and soul with this destructive ritual. Though I doubt she did it in response to the order, Shinobu did indeed pull back, turning to face what I could now make out as an either really embarrassed or really angry Miu. "And put some clothes on!"

"Oh?" Shinobu cocked her head to the side, one hand coming up to tap her lips as she gave a curious glance, finally realizing we had company herself. "Thou has made more of those things… the things that aren't quite emergency food, nor are enemies. What are they called again?"

"Friends?" I supplied dryly for the vampire. Shinobu pursed her lips at the supplied answer.

"Nay," she shook her head. "Not those. What was the word again?" She snapped her fingers, brightening as she apparently remembered the term she was looking for. "A harem!" she announced proudly. "Thou has once more gathered a harem!"

"We are not a harem!" Miu snapped, brushing even brighter as she began to flail her hands in front of her to deny the accusation.

"Ha…rem?" Shigure repeated, rubbing at her forehead slowly.

"This is not what I was expecting from some all-powerful vampire at all," Niijima muttered to Takeda, still looking like he wasn't certain whether he should run or not.

"I kind of thought of something a bit more dignified, or scary," Takeda agreed, though he never took his eyes off the proudly standing Shinobu. I doubt it had to do with being ready for an attack, but it wasn't like Shinobu cared, so I let it go. In the background, I could make out Siegfried beginning to scribble at a note book he must have had hidden on in his jacket, muttering something about inspiration.

"Why on earth would a vampire conform to human expectations?" I muttered. "When you're that strong, you can do whatever you want, no matter what people think of you."

"What an irresponsible way to live," Sakaki muttered, and I gave him a dry look as the one who most often acted the exact same way didn't seem catch the irony of his own statement. "Oi, vampire lady," he continued, addressing Shinobu directly, causing her to turn a curious look at the man. "So just what are you planning on doing now?" he challenged. It looked like Sakaki at least wasn't affected by the bizzare turn the confrontation had taken and still remembered the possible threat the golden haired creature represented.

"A fine question," Shinobu muttered, tapping her lips. "It seems your harem has a point," she nodded at me.

"Wait," Sakaki, gaped, giving a disbelieving stare at the still pondering Shinobu. "You're not including me in the harem, are you?"

Shinobu ignored the other man completely, either not knowing or not caring about how inappropriate the implication was. I had my money on 'not caring'. "Quick, Master," she turned to me, pointing a finger as she spoke in a commanding tone. "What has changed in the sacred Mister Doughnut menu?"

"Mister Doughnut?" Thor repeated, the bigger man looking as though he had lost the ability to do anything but repeat whichever part of the conversation had most contributed to his confusion.

"I think they added some new type of éclair," I supplied, not really having kept up with the franchises current marketing schemes. "I haven't been there in a while," I admitted. Shinobu gave me a disapproving look.

"Hmph. It seems thou hast come to waste thy time on unimportant trivialities in mine absence," she declared haughtily. Whirling, the finger that had been pointed at me moved to point at the door to the basement. "Quick, my Master! Thou must take me at once! It has been ages since I have partaken of Fritelli or Boston Crème!"

"Shinobu," I sighed, still feeling the exhaustion as it gathered through me. "I'm not sure I can anymore." My body was so far gone, so entwined with this school which had been such an important part of my life, I truly did not know if it was even possible for me to return to what I was. The growing exhaustion should have worried me as well, but I was finding it hard to feel that. It looked like I had used the last of my awareness, my final wind, to finish the ritual which had woke up the creature so impudently demanding a trip to a doughnut franchise.

"Of course thou can," Shinobu, without a trace of doubt or worry dismissed my concerns. "What thou has done, thou can undo. Now hurry and gather thyself so that we may leave."

I could only stare at her, before I started to laugh helplessly. Yeah, that was so Shinobu: the only one who asked the impossible without ever considering that it was impossible in the first place.

"Alright," I surrendered to the creature's logic. It was the logic of the Kai, and I suppose at this point I could count myself among them. Closing my eyes, I felt my body, the long vines and roots which had once been my organs and flesh, and slowly, I began to recall them in their original shape. It was hard, so hard, almost a race against my exhaustion, but I did it anyway.

"What's going on?" Kisara demanded, though I couldn't see her as I began to gather speed in my restructuring. "Is the kiddo actually going to be able to do it?"

"Oh yeah," Shinobu said, sounding like she was just remembering something. "Oi, you harem over there."

"We are not a harem!" Sakaki snapped, still sounding outraged at being included in Shinobu's conclusion.

"Shouldn't thou be fleeing?" the vampire ignored the Master, sounding more curious than anything else. After all, she didn't really care about any of my friends. They were just the humans I had around, to her.

"Flee…ing?" Shigure repeated as well, her tone slow and confused.

"From these demesnes," Shinobu huffed, already sounding annoyed at having to deal with the gathered humans. "Would thou not want to preserve thy lives?"

"Preserve," Niijima began, before he stopped suddenly. "Kenichi is taking back all those vines now, isn't he?"

"God, I hope so," Takeda answered, still sounding cautious. I had no idea what could be going through his head at this point, but judging from his tone he was probably still distracted by Shinobu at the moment.

"Well, just how much of this building is only being held up by those vines?" Niijima prompted.

"Oh," Freya muttered, sounding like she got just what Niijima was implying.

"Oh crap!" Ukita snapped, a lot less composed as he too got it. "The building is gonna collapse on us!"

"Shit!" Sakaki swore once more, and though the vines were starting to gather speed as they slithered back into me, I could feel some of them shatter as a wall of the basement exploded, marking Sakaki's usual method of leaving a building quickly via a straight-line through any obstacle in his path.

That was the last thing I could notice for a while. As more and more of myself gathered back in one spot, it got harder and harder for me to recall what to do with myself. Was this particular vine once a vein in my leg, or a tendon in my arm? Was this root my liver, or my spleen? More than that, it had been in part my inhuman form that had given me inhuman power as well. Was trying to return myself back to human diminishing me in some way? I didn't know, but judging from the increase in my exhaustion, it might be that way.

I wonder. For a vampire to do inhuman things, they had to act inhuman. Was the opposite true? If I wanted to go back to being human, would acting human be enough?

I didn't know, but in the end I suppose it didn't matter that I didn't. I would find out soon, no doubt.

I can't even recall how long I was at it, or how hard I worked at it. All I could recall, was the gradual awareness that it had grown warm out, and that the air was fresher than it had been in a while.

It was hard, but I got one eye open.

Ah. The sun. I had almost forgotten what it looked like. I had a brief moment to wonder if maybe I should be afraid. The sun was the enemy of vampires after all, and I had no idea what I counted as at this point.

But no, it didn't burn. It was late in the day, nearly sunset, but the sun was just warm against my skin.

And then the sun vanished, a silhouette with golden hair appearing between me and it.

"Well," Shinobu said, shaking her head as she looked down at me, "it seems that thou hast perhaps overstrained thyself after all." It was the closest thing I would get to visible concern from the vampire, but that was alright. I could feel it, in the bond that had returned between us, that she was worried for me no matter how she acted.

"I did it," I whispered, barely able to move my lips. I was just so tired again. It was hard to remember a time when I wasn't exhausted.

"Indeed thou did," Shinobu nodded, before throwing her head back and giving her signature cackle. "Ka, ka, ka! It seems my Master continues to do amusing things!"

I managed a small laugh myself. It was a brief one, but I managed it. Finally, I sighed, feeling my eyes starting to drift shut again. "I'm tired, Shinobu," I admitted.

"Then sleep, of course," she told me, rolling her eyes as she pointed out the obvious answer to my problem. I could feel something lapping at me. Something cool was coiling up my body, no, that was wrong: it wasn't coiling; rather, I was sinking in it.

"Sleep well, Master," Shinobu told me softly. "Just as thou hast guarded me in my slumber, so too shall I for you."

"Ah," I smiled, realizing the thing I was sinking in was none other than Shinobu's shadow. It seemed fitting that after having spent so much time in mine, I would now be cradled in hers. I let my eyes close as the feeling of being submerged finally climbed around them.

I slept, content in the knowledge that I would be safe, that I could finally rest well.


	6. Chapter 6

Honor Thy Masters 6

_Author's Notes: Well, originally I was planning on going back to In Flight. Chapter 35 was literally almost finished before real world issues caused me to have to take a brief break again and I went to HTM to get my juices flowing again, and I thought it would be a quick work to get it done and out. However, as is the case whenever I get the penultimate chapter of a fic done, I just couldn't leave the last chapter of Honor Thy Masters hanging. _

_Thus, here it is, the conclusion._

_Not really much in the way for spoilers to worry about. Mostly, this chapter deals with a couple themes that have always stuck out for me. _

_One of the things I really like about Nisio Isin is the heavy emphasis he puts on consequences in his works. So much of his stories seem to really come alive due to how much detail he goes into on the negative aspects of the events that happens. Like in Medaka Box where Zenkichi muses about how forgiveness isn't always the best course, or how Medaka was so perfect she became wrong. The Monogatari series does the same, with Kizumonogatari's emphasis on how the only ending Koyomi can find is one where everyone is unhappy, or how Black Hanekawa is the result of Hanekwa's inability to deal with the stress in her life causes her to lash out. They've recently started translating Kabukimonogatari, which I have been desperately waiting for I might add, and there is a fascinating bit at the beginning where Koyomi muses on how even if tragedy can result in something good, it doesn't change the fact that tragedy is at its core something bad happening to you._

_Consequentially, the conclusion of HTM is much in the same vein. I wanted a way to show the results of Kenichi's dedication, the price he had to pay to accomplish his inhuman act, and the consequences not just on him but on those around him as well. I had several reviews comment on the epic nature of Kenichi's resolve, and this is meant to show that epic or not, what he did had negative repercussions as well._

_Not much more to add to that. With this, I only really have In Flight and a few of my old Kim Possible fics that I might even get around to finishing (so you reviewers who constantly demands more Ruinous, know that the story isn't abandoned, just on really long hiatus), and after that I'll hopefully have settled those last few real world issues which are keeping me from just sitting down and writing my own work._

_So, read on to the conclusion of Honor Thy Master, where the ripples of Kenichi's actions make themselves known, 'Wicked Blossom' is finally completely explained, and I prove that not all my horror stories end in completely screwed up fashions._

_*Story Start*_

It was the dreams which eventually brought me back to the land of the living.

I knew that I was sleeping. In the way that a person can sometimes stir in the middle of sleep, I would find myself half waking, just starting to pull free from my resting state, only to realize that I was still tired and let myself fall back.

It was a deep sleep, beyond that. The kind of sleep that could only come after someone had truly exhausted themselves, had been up for far too long or attempted something way too strenuous.

During those half moments where I could muster not quite thoughts but at least impressions, I was pretty sure that I had done both.

For the most part, my consciousness was simply off, a dreamless state of rest. But sometimes, just sometimes, during those moments when I started to wake up only to decide not to, I would rest light enough to dream.

Though time had no real meaning for me at the moment, I remember one of those earlier dreams.

It took place at Ryouzanpaku. I could see it, not from any particular view point but more like I was watching from above, an aerial perspective that would change at my whim. There was quite a gathering present, in this particular dream. In the actual dojo area, all of the Masters of Ryouzanpaku had gathered lining themselves up along one side of the room. Sitting off to the side, a bit separate from them, was Shinobu. And directly opposite the members of Ryouzanpaku was Kushinada and her Disciple Chikage.

Well, I thought to myself with dreamy amusement, this promises to be an interesting scene.

"My, my," Kushinada murmured, one hand coming up to cover up a portion of her mouth in a demure move. She used the damaged hand to do so, as though to better display just how ravaged her body had become. Across from her, the Elder frowned slightly, his eyes seemingly involuntarily taking in the scars. Beside him, I saw Ma flinch, and it looked like the old Chinese man was about to cry. "Is this the way Ryouzanpaku treats its guests? How boorish, Hayate!"

"Ruined," I heard Ma whisper in despair, though I doubt anyone else did. "It's so rare to find perfect breasts in this world, and right there, a set lie ruined."

It looked like Ma still had his priorities straight, even if those priorities were horribly askew. And somehow, that observation made me giggle a little.

"Now, now," the Elder responded to the Bewitching fist, though he gave Ma an amused look which seemed to indicate that he had caught what the little pervert had said anyway. "Surely you must admit that the situation is unusual enough for some precautions to be taken."

"Oh? Precautions?" Kushinada drawled in that cultured tone of hers. "But wasn't it you of Ryouzanpaku that called for this meeting? First you seek favor with your enemy, and then you fail to grant them proper courtesy? Oh, why did I allow myself to respond to the provocations of the Katsujin Ken?" It sounded as though she was really enjoying taking the opportunity to make pot shots at the Elder. I wondered if maybe Sakaki might have been onto something, him always calling Kushinada the 'old man's old squeeze' and all.

"I don't know," as though prompted by my thoughts, the hundred dan brawler spoke up. Sakaki was situated near the door leading to the courtyard, leaning back against a frame with his hands up in a casual way over his head as one leg sprawled in front of him and the other was bent. It was a casual position, but Sakaki wasn't wearing his casual expression. His eyes were narrowed, and his jaw set. He didn't quite look as murderous as I've seen him in the past, but he definitely wasn't happy at the moment. "Why did you?"

"If I were to guess, I would have to say she came because she too had the same concerns that we all share," Akisame noted. The philosopher doctor was kneeling in polite seiza, and despite the tenseness of many in the room, he was at least acting the proper host. He had a tea set prepared nearby, and even as he spoke he was preparing several cups. Even as he offered one to Kushinada, he continued. "From what Shigure has shared with us, she as well has an interest in Kenichi-kun's safety. Isn't that right, Kushinada-dono?"

"Tsk," the Miko gave a brief lowering of her eyebrows at the other man's direct question, but accepted the tea anyway. "What an impatient child. You had been doing so well too, before you started acting with undignified haste." Despite her chiding words, she took a measured sip of the tea, before responding with a courteous, "Delicious."

"Ah, my apologies, Kushinada-dono," Akisame seemed to take no offense at Kushinada's harsh words, accepting them politely, even as he offered a second cup of tea to Chikage. The young girl was also seated in seiza as well, her expression typical of when she was on Yami business. She didn't seem uncomfortable despite the fact that she was currently in the middle of enemy territory for her.

"Delicious," the Disciple also repeated after sipping her tea, before placing the cup to the side and resuming a rigid and unresponsive posture. Akisame noted her reaction, and while Kushinada's words didn't get a response the sight of such a young girl behaving so fiercely made his eyebrow twitch once. I could recognize his distaste for having such a young innocence tainted by the Satsujin Ken.

"Now, now," the Elder broke in again, repeating his earlier attempt at placating their unusual guest. "I'm sure that we can all agree to get along for the moment. Mikumo did agree to meet with us, after all, and even agreed to do so on unfavorable terrain. If that isn't a sign of her willingness to assist us, than I don't know what is."

"Hmph," Kushinada gave a brief, feminine snort, her eyes narrowing briefly as the Elder casually used her first name without honorific. "You are mistaken though," she murmured, still giving that miniscule glare at her old enemy. "It was not for the purpose of meeting you of Ryouzanpaku that I agreed to this." Her eyes turned to the other figure in the room not associated with the Katsujin Ken. "It is a pleasure to meet you at last, Lady Kiss Shot Acerola Orion Hearts Under Blade," the tone she used to address Shinobu was one of absolute courteousness.

"Eh?" Shinobu grunted, not even bothering to look up from her portable game console. The blond vampire was laying on her stomach, kicking her legs in the air behind her like she was a school girl laying on her bed. Shinobu was still looking to be in her mid-teenage years, no sign of the usual regression to the body of a nine year old present. She had somehow managed to find, or maybe just create for herself off hand, an outfit consisting of leggings, a knee length pleated skirt, a denim jacket, and a shirt which proudly displayed the Mr. Donut logo on it. "What do you want, brat?"

Kushinada did not seem at all injured at the casual way Shinobu was addressing her. Instead the Miko seemed pleased to have gotten a response at all. Many of the members of Ryouzanpaku shifted at hearing Shinobu so casually speaking to the older woman. Akisame, Ma, and the Elder in particular seemed worried. On the other hand, several of Ryouzanpaku had a different reaction.

Sakaki, still leaning against the edge of the dojo gave the vampire a harsh look, his body tensing dangerously as he watched the little vampire with cautious eyes. Miu, who had been kneeling beside her grandfather fidgeted briefly, though the looks she was shooting looked more angry than cautious. The other Disciple would start to narrow her eyes at the insolent vampire, only to apparently catch herself and look away quickly. Shigure, who had as was her norm, perched herself on a roof beam, had positioned herself directly above the vampire, crouched on all fours much like a cat would right before they pounced, and was unabashedly staring at the laying form of Shinobu beneath her. The weapon mistress was the only one in the room which wasn't displaying any tension at having Shinobu around.

Except for Apachai. The gentle giant was apparently too distracted by Sakaki's beer nuts, which even now were being left unguarded by the normally territorial karate Master. I guess Sakaki really was upset if he wasn't making a big deal of it.

Then I realized that there was a second bowl of nuts, placed out of sight of Apachai and near a six pack of beer that was placed just off the edge of the veranda on the ground nearby.

"I have heard many things about you, Lady Hearts Under Blade," Kushinada continued politely, speaking as though she were addressing a clear superior. I didn't think that the proud woman had anyone she actually considered to be a superior, but she managed to use the language quite well. I suppose it was just her dedication to courtesy and the old ways which had prompted her to train in that particular grammar. The Miko bowed, leaning forward at her waist until she could place her hands on the ground in front of her, Chikage echoing the motion. Such a clear show of respect seemed to surprise many of Ryouzanpaku as Kushinada continued. "I pray that it is not too forward that I have brought a gift to commemorate this meeting."

As she finished speaking, both her and Chikage straightened, and Kushinada indicated towards a large lacquered box that I hadn't noticed sitting beside the Disciple earlier.

"Oh?" Shinobu yawned again, one hand slipping away from her game to pick at her ear briefly. She brought it back down and pushed herself up onto her elbows as she resumed playing. Ma seemed to twitch as the ending position helped display the vampires newly returned bosoms. "Thou may put it over there, somewhere," Shinobu waved briefly with the console, indicating a position behind her. She did not seem at all impressed with Kushinada's gift.

"Very well," Kushinada again showed no reaction to the vampire's rudeness. "First, allow me to display the gift properly, and then I shall have it placed at your leisure." With a nod to her Disciple, Chikage seemed to know what to do. The young girl began to open the drawers of the box, displaying what was inside properly.

Shinobu seemed annoyed at the Miko's insistence, her eyes narrowing as a series of beeps started to come from her console, and she lifted her head to glare at the two for apparently causing her death, when quite suddenly she froze, before her elbows went out from beneath her, causing her upper body to fall to the ground without warning and her head to clunk against the floorboards audibly.

"Oi," Sakaki muttered, stiffening at the sudden movement, body tense as he tried to determine just what the vampire was up to.

"Tis…" Shinobu's voice was muffled by the floor, her tone slow and dangerous. "Tis this true?"

"Yes, Hearts Under Blade," Kushinada confirmed, still maddeningly polite in the face of Shinobu's antics. It was enough to cause the floor bound blonde to push herself up, launching herself to her feet using just the force of her arms.

"Tis the legendary twenty kilograms of doughnuts!" Shinobu crowed, taking in the sight of row upon row of the pastries that Chikage was revealing. I'm not sure if that was the actual weight, but there certainly were a lot of the sweets somehow packed into the impromptu lunch box. "I had thought it naught but a myth, and yet here it is!" Shinobu was spinning around, hands waiving around her like a child as she literally began to drool. "Ka, ka, ka! At last! That I have lived long enough to bear witness to this event is truly a blessing indeed!"

"Douh… nuts?" Shigure repeated slowly, still hovering over the excited newcomer. She sounded more curious about Shinobu's reaction than anything else, unlike much of the rest of the room.

"We've been trying to get her to do more than just sit around for days, and you're saying all we needed was doughnuts?" Ma muttered softly to the Elder, though the little pervert diligently kept his eyes locked on the bouncing Shinobu. It seemed that maybe she had been right to be so excited about her breasts return, seeing as just about every other male she's come across had noticed them.

"I had been informed that this gift would be well received," Kushinada still didn't seem at all disturbed by the silliness of the prancing vampire. "It is a relief to see that my information was correct. Would you like me to place these somewhere, or…"

"Nay," Shinobu cut off the Miko, finally adopting a more regal stance, hands on her hips as she glared coolly down at the still kneeling woman. I'm not sure if she was attempting to honestly look dignified for once, but the image was marred by the fact that she was still visibly drooling. "A gift as fine as this should be enjoyed immediately! I shall have to ration myself, though," she continued in a mumble. "Perhaps only five kilograms for now, and another five later?"

"Whatever you think is proper," Kushinada capitulated, and with another nod Chikage began to back away from the now open box which now vaguely resembled the display case at a pastry shop. Shinobu skipped over, not paying any attention to the much decreased distance between her and the two priestesses, and flopped down gracelessly.

"Ka, ka, ka," Shinobu cackled again, already rubbing her hands evilly as she prepared to glut herself. "Ka, ka, ka!"

"She can't really be such a glutton, can she?" Miu managed to lean over to her grandfather's ears, her whispered question filled with distaste as she glared at the vampire who appeared much the same age as she did.

"Girl likes her doughnuts, I guess," Sakaki muttered, though he didn't appear as disturbed as the younger girl did. He looked marginally more relaxed now though, and as though Shinobu's indulgence was the event he was waiting for the brawler reached out to snag one of his beers, slicing the top off with one quick move of his hand before taking a pull at it. Then his eyes narrowed. "Apachai, no!"

"Apapapa," the gentle giant flinched, pulling back from where he had begun to crawl on all fours towards the treasure trove of pastries. "Apachai is hungry!"

"Don't get in her way," Sakaki warned fiercely, pulling his other bowl of beer nuts and slamming them down in front of the other man. "Here," Sakaki bluntly declared, sacrificing his sacred drinking food for his friend. "Just keep eating these."

"Apapapa!" The gesture seemed to cheer Apachai up, but the big man continued to give longing looks to where Shinobu had indeed started digging in to her allowed five kilograms.

"If it pleases you, Hearts Under Blades," Kushinada ignored the shenanigans of the gathered Katsujin Ken members, instead remaining focused on the gorging vampire. "I was hoping that you might answer a question of mine."

"Of course!" Shinobu announced, her voice made muffled by the large bite of doughnut she was currently chewing on. "Thou would be most welcome in my Master's harem!" She swallowed, a massive ball of food visibly distending her throat as she did so. "There art still positions open," she mused, scratching her head openly as she seemed to contemplate the dynamics of my so called harem. "Perhaps thou could be the 'Onee-chan' role, or maybe the 'Shotacon'."

Ma made a choking noise, freezing entirely and a goofy looking smile appearing on his face as he contemplated the concept of Kushinada being combined with the concept of a harem. The Elder twitched as well, though it looked like he was doing more to try and cover a smile as Kushinada finally paused, unable to completely suppress a small sign of discomfort at the vampire's direct offer.

"While I appreciate the gesture," Kushinada ventured cautiously, eventually mastering her calm, "I had instead hoped to hear more about young Shirahama Kenichi's condition. Is the boya well?"

"My Master?" Shinobu didn't seem at all disturbed by the question, already turning her attention away from the Miko and back to the doughnuts. "Oh, he's just sleeping for a while."

"Sleeping?" Sakaki repeated, pausing from his beer as he turned incredulous eyes on the vampire. "Sleeping? We saw what you did, with your shadow, and you're saying he's just sleeping?"

"Of course!" Shinobu shrugged, unconcerned by the disbelief being sent her way. She answered the brawler's question just as easily as she had Kushinada's. Apparently, once she had been fully appealed by doughnuts she no longer made any distinction between who was asking questions when she answered. The factions gathered here were irrelevant, all humans being equal in her eyes. "Where else would he sleep?"

"At home," Miu muttered, still giving the vampire a baleful eye. "In his bed. With his friends and family around to keep him safe."

"Huh," Shinobu grunted at Miu's suggestion, pausing to give the ground a curious looks as she thought about the option. "Verily, I have never considered such a thing," she admitted easily, shrugging before she returned to snacking. "What an abysmal concept."

"Abysmal…" Miu began starting to narrow her eyes in anger at the dismissal, before the Elder's hand on her head caused her to pause. With a guilty look to her grandfather, Miu closed her eyes and appeared to begin meditating.

"Where Kenichi-kun is resting aside," Akisame began, cutting in to the conversation with a reasonable tone. "The question remains how long will he be sleeping? It has been several days already. How much longer before we can expect our Disciple to wake up?"

If Shinobu heard the possessive tone of the doctor, she gave it no heed. "Oh, a year or two," she shrugged easily as she rattled off an estimate. "Perhaps five at the most."

The bottle in Sakaki's hand shattered as his fist clenched at the bleak proposal. "Five years?" the brawler demanded, not even noticing the way his beer was soaking his leg, or the way he was grinding glass into dust with his bare hands.

"At the most," Shinobu nodded in confirmation.

"Is he in some kind of coma?" Akisame prompted, now definite worry in his tone. "If so, then perhaps Ma-sensei, or myself might be able to help. We are accomplished doctors, after all." I couldn't tell for sure, but I think the offer for treatment might have had more to do with convincing Shinobu to let me out of her shadow than to actually treat me.

"Doctors?" Shinobu repeated, giving the jujitsu user a brief look. Then her eyes trailed over to Ma, who had managed to arrange himself in a dignified way for the inspection.

Then Shinobu gave a little snort of amusement, and turned back to her doughnuts. Ma wilted at the dismissal, though Akisame bristled slightly.

It didn't surprise me that Shinobu would turn them down. Those two had barely been welcomed into the Nightworld, and had no idea what existed therein. They probably thought that it was just regular injuries which were keeping me asleep. The very thought was ridiculous for a vampire. Their bodies just didn't hold injuries, after all. What was wrong with me was most likely my power, the long and dangerous over use having strained me in some way. In Shinobu's shadow, basking in her power much like she used to do the same with me, I was probably receiving more aid than anything the two of them could do in a dozen years.

"So a year at the latest," Kushinada murmured to herself, a hand coming up once more to conceal her lips. She at least seemed to find the news satisfying. "It would be disappointing if the boya were to return without my knowledge," she continued, once more addressing the gorging vampire. "With your permission, Lady Hearts Under Blades, may I call upon you again in a few months to check on your Master's recovery?"

"Hmmm," Shinobu began, giving the Miko a shy look. "My time is quite valuable. I am not certain I would be able to spare so much of it…"

"Of course, I will again return bearing gifts," Kushinada assured her, and Shinobu grinned triumphantly at the obvious bribery.

"Very well! I shall await thy return eagerly!" she declared, holding up one of her doughnuts as though in salute.

Kushinada bowed again, and was making as though she was about to stand when the Elder spoke up. "Well, Shinobu-chan, wasn't it?" the older man began, addressing the vampire with a grandfatherly air. Sakaki and Shigure both tensed, and I didn't blame them when Shinobu's eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "Why I'm certain you're enjoying your snack," he continued, "are you certain you should be allowing those two so much access to Kenichi-chan?" His eyes remained focused on Kushinada, who allowed an irritated twitch of her lips as her old rival interfered with her business. "Though she is rather polite, Mikumo has tried to harm Kenichi-chan in the past."

"How petty, Hayate," Kushinada muttered to herself at the Elder's obvious attempt to put a break on the developing relationship between the Bewitching Fist and the Kai Killer.

"Hmm?" Shinobu hummed to herself, before shrugging carelessly. "It does not seem important. If they did indeed attempt to harm my Master, I would simply tear both their heads off before tracking down their god and making a snack of it." She paused, tapping her lips in thought. "Tis been a while since I supped on god," she noted idly to herself. "Perhaps t'would make a good change of diet."

Kushinada, Sakaki, and Shigure all went very still at the declaration, and Chikage shivered while Miu's eyes narrowed as well. While the rest of the room seemed to dismiss Shinobu's blunt claim, Ma even going so far as to shake his head in amusement and Akisame chuckling lightly, those five at least understood that when Shinobu made such a claim, she was not just joking around.

"Though perhaps thy council is not without merit," Shinobu allowed a moment later before turning to point at Kushinada. "You, brat. What are thy intentions towards my Master?"

For a moment, Kushinada was still, and I wondered if maybe she was trying to think of a way to get out of this situation without any more of Shinobu's attention, before finally the Miko smiled slightly.

"I want him," Kushinada declared simply. Reactions were mixed at the declaration.

"Oh!" Shinobu grinned at that. "So it is the harem option after all!"

"How does the boy do it?" Ma mumbled to himself, also interpreting the Miko's declaration in the obvious way. "Has the Disciple truly surpassed the Master?"

"Another… rival?" Shigure chimed in, though she sounded more curious than anything else. It reminded me that for everything else that had happened when I was awake, Shigure had made her intentions quite clear about what her feelings towards me were. If I wasn't dreaming, I might just blush at the thought.

"Mikumo," the Elder began, also sounding surprised at his long time rival's declaration. "Have you truly sunken so low?" His eyes narrowed as he continued. "Why would you want Kenichi-chan, anyway? He's not well suited for the Kushinada style of Jujitsu. Your current Disciple is a much better match for your style." It seemed that the Elder at least had a separate interpretation of what Kushinada had meant.

"Oh? What a dirty mind you have, Hayate," Kushinada chided the Elder, one hand coming up to conceal a smile. "I did not say I want him for myself, or for my style. I want him for my shrine."

"Your shrine?" Akisame's strange eyebrows furrowed as he tried to understand what the Miko was saying.

"Shirahama-kun is well on his way to being the premiere specialist in Japan," Kushinada elaborated, still concealing her lips with one scarred hand. "Already, at such a young age, he supasses all but a few others of the trade in this country. In a few years, with a bit more study and experience, he might reach the same status in the rest of the world as well." Such a direct and blunt appraisal of my abilities as a Kai specialist seemed to take the Elder aback, though Akisame instead seemed intrigued.

"And you wanna get that kind of talent for Yami," Sakaki declared bluntly, eyes narrowing as he finished his current beer, jerkily reaching for a third and opening it in the same way as the first. It was a logical assumption, so when Kushinada shook her head in the negative the brawler paused halfway through his first sip.

"What would Yami want with a specialist?" Kushinada seemed amused at how quickly the assumption had been made. "Yami is an organization dedicated to Martial Arts, not magic or superstition. Even I, one of the Nine Shadow One Fist, never truly considered my shrine to be anything else but a traditional establishment. I only ever saw to its upkeep as a form of training in the old ways. Until, that is, I was attacked by a goddess."

"A goddess?" the Elder frowned, looking surprised. "I didn't take you for one to believe in such things, Mikumo."

Again, Shinobu gave the Elder an irritated look, and this time both Sakaki and Shigure also had their own glances for the Master. Even Miu looked uncomfortable, giving Shinobu a quick glance that wasn't angry for once.

It looked like they finally understood just why I had been so reluctant to bring Ryouzanpaku into the Nightworld. Even with their testimonies, even with one of his most trusted enemies agreeing, even with a freaking vampire scarfing doughnuts in front of him, the Elder still didn't truly believe in the Kai. It had taken seeing me absorbing a building and watching me regrow my entire body before Sakaki or Miu had truly believed, after all.

"Hmhmhm," Kushinada chuckled softly, already understanding that her old foe was still stuck in denial and finding it amusing it seemed. "Oh, why shouldn't I? After Shirahama-kun gave me such excellent advice, I was finally able to advance as a Miko, as well as a Martial Artist. And now, my shrine isn't just an empty shell anymore." Her hand dipped slightly, revealing the sharp smile beneath. It truly was a ghastly sight to see on such ruined flash. "The Kushinda style once more is in the service of a god."

"And just what kind of god might that be?" the Elder seemed ready to engage in what was likely a flight of fancy for him, but his attempt only seemed to amuse Kushinada more. I could figure out why. She had told me what sorts of prayers were granted at her shrine, after all.

"An Aragami, of course," she revealed with immense satisfaction. "A god of war that promises glorious death in battle. And my god is quite fond of Shirahama-kun. The boya has already earned his approval, twice over now."

That too, made sense I suppose. I had died in battle twice now. Yes, I suppose that I would definitely catch the eye of something like that.

"I had always thought that your shrine was meant to be kept in your family," the Elder noted, brow furrowing at the reminder of just how many times the Disciple of Ryouzanpaku had fallen.

"Well," Kushinada's hand came back up to her lips. "That can be arranged still. My Disciple is quite fond of yours, after all."

It took a second for the implication to hit, but once it dead, Ma snorted, turning a wide eye to Chikage, just as much of the room did. Miu's stare was particularly disbelieving. Under the combined weight of so many Masters' stares, Chikage managed to maintain an admirable demeanor, though her cheeks did redden slightly as her crush was revealed.

"Another… rival," Shigure sighed, sounding aggrieved at yet more competition.

"Hmm," Shinobu hummed, studying the younger girl closely as she did so. The vampire was currently munching on an éclair of some kind, while idly twirling three other doughnuts by their holes around one of her fingers. "Master never did have anything against lolis, I suppose. He did keep that snail girl around, after all."

"Snail girl?" Miu repeated, eyes narrowing as she did so. "Lolis?"

"Ka, ka, ka!" Shinobu laughed, and if this wasn't a dream I would have face palmed at the way the vampire was shamelessly stirring up trouble for me. That, and reminded her that she used to be a loli too, for that matter.

"A loli?" Kushinada also repeated, sounding amused. "Well, for now. But she is approaching the age when she should begin growing, and when she does the secondary aspect of the Kushinada youth techniques should start developing as well."

"Secondary…" Ma repeated, before his eyes widened. Without an ounce of shame, his eyes locked on Kushinada's impressive albeit scarred bust, before switching with a movement that should have been accompanied by a 'locking on' sound effect to the still blushing Chikage. "Please, Kushinada-san! You need to reveal these secrets to the rest of the world," Ma announced, launching himself to his feet, eyes alight with the power of etchi. "Such a thing must not be kept hidden!"

"Contemptible little man," Kushinada snorted, before ignoring the China man completely. "So, Lady Hearts Under Blades," she continued, giving the still curious vampire an expectant look, "if you say that a year or two is necessary for Shirahama-kun to recover that is fine. It certainly allows me time to better prepare my own camp, in the end."

"I'm sure my Master will thank me for increasing his harem later," Shinobu agreed, shrugging as she dismissed the rest of the implications completely and turned back to her doughnuts. "Just see to it that she does not become a tsundere. Master already has one in his harem, after all."

It actually took Sakaki a moment to understand what Shinobu's nod towards him indicated, and when he did he spat out his beer.

"I'm not in the damn midget's harem!" he roared, slapping his palm against his head. "I'm his Master, his instructor, not a goddamn love interest!" He paused, and also continued, in an even louder tone. "And I'm not a damn tsundere!"

"Oh?" Shinobu's grin turned cunning. "The last time I had come to Japan, twas the fashion of the time. I suppose things might have changed."

"Mikumo," the Elder continued to address his old enemy, his voice unusually solemn as he ignored the degenerating squabble between the member of his dojo and the blonde interloper. "There is something which has been concerning me for a while. Since you are being so open at the moment, perhaps I could run my concerns by you."

"Hmph," the Miko gave a lady like snort. "It has been a long time since I have been a confident of yours, Hayate." Kushinada didn't seem particularly inclined to grant the Elder's request. The only reason she had been so open so far was that she was trying to get information out of Shinobu, after all. It didn't seem likely that she would offer much that wouldn't advance her position with the vampire.

"You see, it concerns Junazard, and how he came to know about Miu's parentage," the Elder continued anyway, and that was enough to set the rest of Ryouzanpaku on edge. Sakaki, who had been really starting to warm up to the argument with Shinobu over his status in my so called harem froze, his eyes narrowing as the glass in his hand began to creak dangerously from the pressure it was being put under again. Ma's eyes sharpened, gaining some edge as they returned from the etchi place. Akisame paused momentarily in his preparation of tea before he resumed, and Shigure seemed to stiffen in her perch above Shinobu.

Surprisingly, even Apachai paused, the normally oblivious giant starting to pay attention. When it came to Miu's encounter with the Demon God Fist, there was still very little in the way of playfulness in Ryouzanpaku.

"There were very few who knew of Miu's ancestery," the Elder continued, voice still firm. "The number of people who might have told Junazard is small. And of those who know, there are only two in Yami. One of them I know would never reveal the fact. That just leaves…"

I could do the math as the Elder trailed off. If memory served, one of the two members of the Yami that might know was none other than Miu's father. If what the Elder was implying was true, than it looked like the one responsible for Miu's painful encounter with the Demon God Fist was right here, kneeling politely in front of the one she had nearly killed.

"Oh?" Kushinada did not seem at all disturbed by the accusation. She smiled again, this time not bothering to conceal her lips. It really was disturbing what the motion did two her ruined flesh. "Are you going somewhere with this, Hayate?"

"I suppose my greatest concern would be 'why'?" the Elder continued softly. He looked so relaxed, so unconcerned by what he was speaking about that it would have set me on edge if this hadn't all been a dream. Beside him, Miu also seemed to understand the precipice her grandfather was standing before, and seemed to shrink in on herself briefly before reaching out to lightly clutch the Elder's kimono. I wasn't certain if it was to comfort herself or to try and restrain him, but it seemed to relax the Elder briefly.

"I suppose if someone were to reveal something like that," Kushinada finally ventured after a moment, sounding as though she were treating the whole thing as a hypothetical situation, "then that person might have been trying to set the Invincible Superman against the Demon God in order to get rid of one of them."

Sakaki's scowl grew fiercer as the Bewitching fist as much as admitted to being the force behind Miu's pain, and Ma scowled as well. They were the two most obvious in their reaction, as Akisame, Shigure, Apachai, and even the Elder managed to master their reactions a little bitter.

"I would believe something like that," the Elder acknowledged, shaking his head slightly, "if someone hadn't just revealed that they had an interest in the other Disciple as well."

"Hmhmhm," Kushinada chuckled darkly, and I realized that the Elder had been right, that he had somehow managed to detect that there was even more to the plot than just the removal of a rival or a fellow Master. "If this train of thought was true, than perhaps the death of the girl might have had a reaction on the other Disciple as well. Perhaps he would simply remove himself from the Underworld entirely, maybe seeking a more secular life, perhaps at a shrine that would have been made available for him. Or perhaps he would have sought vengeance, even going so far as to seek the Satsujin Ken for himself. Even if he was ill suited for particular styles, there are those among Yami quite fond of raising Disciples, in the end. Instruction from one of them might have been arranged. So long as the Disciple grew closer, there were many options."

Okay. I had always known that Kushinada was terrifying. This should be nothing new to me.

Still, to hear that the plot which had nearly destroyed Miu's soul and sanity, had literally killed me, might have been aimed in part at me…

I was glad I was dreaming. This would have been too much to deal with awake.

"Wow," Shinobu whistled, speaking normally as she selected yet another doughnut from her treasure trove. "Thou art a conniving bitch, art thou not?"

"Hmhmhm," Kushinada gave a demure laugh. "This is all nothing but speculation, in the end. Or do you have some sort of proof of your accusations, Hayate?"

"No," the Elder murmured softly, still far too calm for someone in his situation. "No, there is not."

"Well then," Kushinada made as though to stand, an action echoed by the still silent Chikage. "If there is nothing else, it seems our business here is done…"

"I have… a question," it was Shigure who spoke up, interrupting the Bewitching Fist as she began to make her departure. She was the only one from Ryouzanpaku that seemed capable of speaking at the moment, the rest too busy dealing with the fact that the one responsible for so much of our pain was right here in front of them, laughing as she made her escape.

"And what is it this time?" Kushinada sounded honestly exasperated at the interruption.

"Not… for you," Shigure said, causing Kushinada to pause. "For… you." The slow speaking Master pointed at Shinobu instead.

"For me?" Shinobu repeated, raising one eyebrow in curiosity. "Why should I care about your concerns?" she demanded, again sounding bored as she kept working her way through her doughnuts. I was not a judge of pastry weight, but I was pretty sure that by this point she had already passed her allotted five kilograms.

"He…re?" Shigure said slowly, and with a quick motion she let something drop from the rafter.

"What is this?" Shinobu blinked in confusion as she took in what had appeared before her. It took me a second to realize that Shigure had somehow attached a bag boasting the Mister Doughnut logo to a string, which she had lowered down as though she was fishing until it rested directly in front of the confused vampire. I had a moment to wonder just where she had gotten the bag from, before I caught sight of the same thing that had apparently confused Shinobu.

"Chiu!" Touchumaru declared, saluting cheerfully as the mouse introduced himself to the vampire. I would have blinked, if I had eyes. Why did the mouse have Mister Donuts? Did Shigure actually send him out to get some after Kushinada revealed Shinobu's weakness? And if so, how had the mouse made the trip so quickly? Actually, how had the mouse actually made an order at all?

"Tis most bizarre," Shinobu muttered, still eyeing the mouse even as she reached for the back being offered. Her confusion vanished once she opened the package. "Golden Delights!" she crowed, not even seeming to care that she already had twenty kilograms right beside her. For Shinobu, more doughnuts were always better, no matter how many she already had.

"It… works," Shigure nodded, apparently having been trying to test the hypothesis that doughnuts were the only sure fire way to get Shinobu to cooperate.

"So what is it thou desire to know?" Shinobu went on to definitely prove Shigure right. Kushinada rolled her eyes slightly, and was turning to leave, apparently not concerned just what Shigure was trying to find out, preferring to take her leave now that her own questions had been answered.

"What does… Wicked Blossom mean?" Shigure's question caused Kushinada to stop, pausing as the weapon mistress actually managed to find something that even the Bewitching Fist apparently was unaware of.

"Oh?" Shinobu drawled out her response. A wicked grin appeared on her face. "My Master's first title? Tis almost cause for celebration. But why dost thou profess confusion? The title is most simple."

"What is… it then?" Shigure prompted, ignoring Shinobu's attempt to draw out her answer.

"Wicked Blossom?" Akisame repeated, turning to Sakaki in confusion as he heard the title for the first time. The brawler had sat up straight, and was apparently just as interested in the answer as Shigure and Kushinada were.

"It was what the other vampire and the midget called himself," Sakaki muttered back, giving the philosopher some context. "I thought it had something to do with Kenichi's weed impression myself."

"Ka, ka, ka," Shinobu released her ghoulish laugh. "Not quite so simple, tsundere," she declared, and Sakaki bristled at the title again. "The title is more meaningful than something so simple!" Shinobu lounged backwards, apparently enjoying the chance to lord over the gathered mortals. "Tell me," she began mischievously. "What type of fruit does a cherry blossom bring forth? Cherries of course. As do the orange blossom bring forth oranges and the apple blossoms bring forth apples. So, ask thyself, what sort of fruit does a wicked blossom bring forth?" Shinobu grinned maliciously. "Why, evil fruit of course."

"What do you mean by that?" Miu demanded the other girl bristling as she interpreted the vampire's words as an attack on my character. "Kenichi-san would never do anything evil!"

"Oh?" Shinobu drawled. "But he brought forth me, did he not?" she pointed out, still grinning. "With tender malice and intimate cruelty, he deliberately hurt himself and others, to the point of near death for many, all in order to bring me back into the world. I had surely died, three years ago. Nay, I had died many years before that," she corrected herself, "but I had continued to live on past my death, as a vampire. And yet, when I finally destroyed myself even as that, when I had unmade myself to my very core, then did my Master bring me back. Like a flower blossoming, he forced his very body open. Like a gardener, he pollinated that blossom with his own blood. His shadow grew as a bud would, and from it he created the seed of my rebirth. His produce was me, a vampire which has slain thousands, which tens of thousands lived in fear of. What other title could fit my Master, save that of a Wicked Blossom to bear Evil Fruit into the world?"

"That's… that's not true," Miu began, though she was shivering at the bleak appraisal Shinobu had given my actions. If I wasn't dreaming, perhaps I would have shivered too.

It was true, after all. There was nothing noble about what I had done, either now or so long ago. Shinobu was a vampire, one who was well over five hundred years old. As a vampire she had never been very gluttonous, but even with restrained eating habits she had to have killed and eaten around one person a month to survive. At twelve months a year, five hundred years amounted to over six thousand that had died at her fangs. That was greater than the population of some towns.

Add in those she had killed in battles, and the number only increased. As the oldest and greatest of her kind, she had been in a lot of fights, after all. And Shinobu hadn't earned a title like 'Hot blooded, Cold blooded, Iron blooded' by showing a lot of mercy in those fights. With those calculated in, I wouldn't be surprised if the vampire so casually swirling a doughnut around her pointer finger had a kill count well into the tens of thousands at this point.

And I had saved her life, three times at this point. The first when I gave my life for hers, the second when I had refused to kill her and let her live on in my shadow, and again just a few days ago when I had pulled her back out of it. If Shinobu could be considered the enemy of humanity, than as the one who had saved her so often, there was little doubt I too should bear that title.

The Wicked Blossom which bore Evil Fruit was a fitting term for something like me.

"The boya is wasted on the Katsujin Ken," Kushinada murmured, apparently very pleased with the answer Shinobu had provided. Others in the room were less so, judging from the worried looks that Akisame and Ma were sharing. Even the Elder seemed uncomfortable with Shinobu's gloating revelation.

"Now, now," as though to alleviate his discomfort, the Elder stood, moving toward Shinobu with a smile. As though to calm everyone down, he reached to put a big hand on the smaller girl's shoulder. "I'm sure things aren't as…"

It was as far as he got before he made contact with Shinobu. The vampire's expression instantly settled into glare, and her face whipped in his direction, her eyes literally flashing for a moment.

There was no other motion, simply the flash, and then the Elder was flying backwards, his massive frame driving through the dojo wall, across the courtyard, and impacting into the walls of Ryouzanpaku with enough force to sink the man half way into the thick bricks. If it had been anyone else but a Master, maybe even anyone else then the Elder, I think they would have been flattened completely by the strike.

"Insolent brat," Shinobu snorted into the shocked silence, her eyes still flashing. "Did I give thee permission to approach me so casually?"

"Grandfather!" Miu cried, shock at the sudden assault on the infamously invincible fighter.

"Shit," Sakaki swore, the bottle in his hand again no longer capable of withstanding the force of his fingers as it shattered.

"What on earth was that?" Akisame demanded, also going ridged at the suddenness of the attack. "An air throw of some kind?" he speculated, thinking of the jujitsu throws which relied on feints and ki strikes to cause a person to effectively throw themselves into dodges.

"Mystic eyes," it was Chikage who spoke up, supplying the answer. Kushinada gave her a mild glance, listening to her Disciple in this matter. "Band-Aid-onii-chan mentioned the power to destroy things with their sight while listing a vampire's powers," she continued.

Wait, when did Chikage start tagging an 'onii-chan' onto my nickname?

"T'was not just my bosoms that returned on my awakening," Shinobu leered, acknowledging Chikage's speculation. It appeared that with her increase in age, some more of her powers might have returned to her as well. That did not bode well for the immediate future.

"You are… wrong," it was Shigure who spoke next, interrupting the growing excitement as she continued to lock stony gaze on the vampire below her. Shinobu glanced back to find that the weapon mistress had swung over the beam and was once more doing her lavender bat impression. Shinobu raised an eyebrow at the display, but appeared unimpressed.

"Oh?" she drawled, giving the closer Master a withering look. "And what might I be mistaken about, kuudere?"

"Kuudere?" Sakaki repeated, blinking as someone beside him got labeled with a relationship stereotype for a title as well.

"You are not… evil," Shigure continued, still talking directly to the vampire. Shinobu blinked, looking taken aback at the declaration.

"And what makes thou think that?" Shinobu demanded, affronted at the implication that she didn't deserve her wicked title.

"Because Kenichi… likes you," Shigure nodded. "And Kenichi wouldn't… like an evil person." It was Shinobu's turn to blink in surprise at the logic. Shigure really did have a touch of the inhuman in her, if she truly could think like that. "Let's be… friends."

"Friends?" Shinobu repeated, sounding absolutely astonished at the offer. It didn't surprise me. Shinobu was of the Kai, and the Kai were not the type to befriend humans, or even others of their own species. Still, it seemed that the offer had drawn the vampire's attention. "Thou, kuudere," Shinobu finally spoke after a moment. "What was thy name?"

"Shigure… Kousaka," the Master introduced herself to the vampire.

"Shigure," Shinobu repeated, not bothering to add honorifics as she repeated the name. "Thou art a fool, Shigure," she finally decided. "It seems my Master's harem is often replete with such things.

I don't think anyone else in the room realized just how momentous the occasion was. Shinobu didn't use names. Ever. Even I was only ever referred to as 'Master' by her. For her to voluntarily use another's…

This was kind of groundbreaking here.

"Kenichi's… harem," Shigure repeated, and again if I was awake my jaw would probably have hit the ground as the weapon mistress began to blush lightly. "Let's… get along."

Shinobu grunted, and began to open her mouth to no doubt say something derogatory, but then she froze going rigid with her mouth still open. The rest of the room tensed, wondering just what it was that she was about to do, and then her head whipped around to stare directly at my point of view.

"Oh?" Shinobu murmured, and I blinked. Wow, this dream was getting weird.

Maybe it was time to dream about something else?

Even as my vision began to fade, Shinobu turned to give her shadow a speculative look. The last thing I heard before I sank back into dreamless slumber was her.

"Well, I suppose not yet," Shinobu decided, sounding amused by something.

Darkness retook me completely, and I slept.

*Scene Break*

Time has no meaning, when you're sleeping. Still, even in the deepest sleep, sometimes the sleeper will get restless. I wasn't certain how long it had been, but it was as though the great tiredness that I had been harboring had lessened, and with its diminishing more and more I found myself dreaming.

Another memorable dream also took place in the dojo of Ryouzanpaku.

"Would you two get down from there?" Sakaki muttered, looking towards the ceiling. The brawler was again perched on the edge of the dojo, a six pack of beer and a bowl of nuts nearby. The man looked pensive about something, alternating between glancing outside at the courtyard and up, to the two he had just spoken too.

"Verily?" Shinobu cocked her head to the side, curiosity in her features. "Why should I do that?"

"It is a… good view," Shigure agreed.

The two were perched above eye sight, just like Shigure normally did. The weapon mistress had chosen to sit on a beam again, Touchumaru nearby practicing a circus routine of all things as the two relaxed.

Shinobu had chosen to disregard the beam, and was instead laying in a half hazard position on the ceiling itself. In defiance of gravity, her hair was laying perfectly flat, as though it was normal to drape upwards rather than down. Sometimes, Shigure also walked along the ceiling, though when she did she used her toes to grab cracks and her hair would hang around her. Shinobu had chosen the very center of a ceiling tile and was idly kicking her feat, no part of her body that could grasp in contact with the ceiling itself.

Also, another box of doughnuts similar to the one Kushinada had given her before was next to her. All the drawers were open, and despite the fact that they were upside down gravity seemed to be nowhere in sight.

It's the kind of thing which would be very disturbing to the uninitiated, but Sakaki and Shigure didn't seem to mind at all. If anything, the two were ignoring it with the ease of long practice.

Interestingly enough, both Shigure and Shinobu were holding portable game systems in this dream. Judging from the way both of them were so intent, I had the impression that they might be playing something together via wireless connections.

"Che," Sakaki clicked his tongue, before he turned back to the courtyard again, his expression drifting back to pensive. "Still, to think that something like this would happen…"

Curious as to what had gotten to my Master, my view changed in my dream until I too could see what the brawler was looking at. In my dream, it gave me quite a shock when I realized that the sight before him was none other than Miu and, of all people, my sister Hanako, both in the courtyard. Akisame was standing nearby, watching vigilantly, as Miu and Hanako engaged in what was apparently sparring.

"We both knew that Kenichi… was stubborn," Shigure pointed out slowly. "Why wouldn't his sister… be too?"

"It's still weird," Sakaki muttered, grumbling as he did so. "How am I supposed to train a girl?" he complained as though to the air. "I mean, it was easy to hit Kenichi," he continued, killing a small part of my soul with the casual confession, "but Hanako is just so… so tiny."

"It helps that… Hanako actually has talent," Shigure pointed out. "Unlike… Kenichi."

And there went another part of my soul as well. Why were my Masters so mean to me, even in my dreams!

"The girl has chosen a foolish goal though," Shinobu pointed out, sounding bored by the conversation. "The loli seem too lofty a height to set gaze upon."

"Hey, a good rival can help drive a Disciple a lot faster than any Master can," Sakaki moved to defend Hanako almost instinctively. Then he snorted, apparently amused at something. "Even if the reason for the rivalry is silly as all hell."

"She's at a good… age for learning," Shigure pointed out as well, before her system started to beep at her angrily. I was able to judge the expression she turned on Shinobu as a pout.

"Ka, ka, ka!" Shinobu declared smirking at the other woman. "Victory is mine again!" The vampire reached out to pluck a doughnut from the box next to her, biting into it triumphantly.

"Victory?" Akisame asked, having apparently left the Miu and Hanako alone in the courtyard for the moment. He gave the suspended vampire and the box of doughnuts a cautious look, at least having the grace to be unnerved at the unnatural before he continued. "Ah," he hummed to himself. "I see Chikage-chan has already been here." He gave a soft sigh. "To think, it's already been a year."

"I did say that my Master would sleep at least as long," Shinobu pointed out, a cocky smile on her face. "Thou should have listened to the tsundere about my judgment."

"It's been a freaking year already," Sakaki muttered, angrily sipping at his beer. "When will you freaking give it a rest? I'm not in the boy's goddamn harem." He grabbed a handful of nuts and began popping them into his mouth grumpily. "Why are you so freaking set on the theory anyway?"

"Hmm?" Shinobu cocked her head to the side, apparently actually giving the idea thought. "Well, perhaps times have changed," she admitted casually. "When first I arrived in these lands, twas popular for Masters and pupils to engage in such things. Wasn't love between warriors a sacred tryst?"

"Well," Akisame noted, sounding contemplative. "During the era of Bushido, homosexual relations between samurai were common," he admitted. Sakaki growled and gave the jujitsu user a glare.

"Wasn't that like two hundred years ago?" he demanded, throwing a hand in the air in frustration.

"Yes," Shinobu nodded immediately. "T'was about the time I first came to this land."

An awkward silence settled over the three humans, Sakaki and Akisame exchanging an uncomfortable look as Shigure blinked once before returning to her game system.

"Just when you start to think of her as almost normal," Sakaki finally muttered, shaking his head.

"Truly," Akisame muttered as well, mostly to himself. "To have been able to witness those times for oneself. What wonders must have existed back then?" It looked like even though Akisame was still uncomfortable in Shinobu's presence, he had at least come to accept the reality of her existence.

"Twas far more killing," Shinobu answered easily, though Akisame had meant no one to hear his statement. "And far smellier. These ages are far easier on the senses. There were more in the way of Kai then too," she went on to add, sounding thoughtful. "Many of them were delicious. I wonder, it has been a while since I've had kitsune…"

"Ye…s," Shigure nodded at the statement. "They are quite… tasty."

"Is she going on again about vampire things?" It was Miu who spoke up this time, leading Hanako as the two apparently took a break. Miu looked older now, though not by much. She was only a bit taller, and her hair was longer, but beyond that the age showed in her cheek bones and frame. She looked lither then before, but where her muscles pressed against her usual armored spandex they looked even tighter than before.

"I thought that wannabe vampires wore more black and spoke in bad accents," Hanako chimed in cheerfully. My sister looked older as well, though the changes were more obvious in her than in Miu. Hanako had been about ready for the age where puberty began to really work at her, and I realized that in my dream she had grown nearly an inch, and judging from the swell of her douji she was beginning to develop in other areas as well.

"Oh?" Shinobu cocked her head to the side, giving my sister a brief look. "Did the morsel say something?"

Shinobu used the term easily, probably having decided on it as the nickname for my sister, but from the nervous glances Miu was giving the vampire it looked like my fellow Disciple wasn't quite certain whether or not she should be taking the vampire seriously. Miu began to open her mouth, but was interrupted as Hanako seemed to notice something.

"Ah!" my sister gasped, pointing at the doughnuts. Her eyes narrowed in childish anger. "Has that dull eyed girl been here?"

"Oh?" Akisame put a finger to his mouth in feigned thought. "You mean Chikage-chan? I do believe that she might have been here earlier…"

"The nerve of that girl!" Hanako declared, stomping her feet angrily. "Saying she's going to marry onii-chan and asking if she can call me 'imouto' too! She's even younger than I am!"

Hanako stormed out of the dojo, and I couldn't help but wonder just what had happened between my sister and Chikage in this dream world to prompt such a response. Sakaki watched the girl go, looking highly amused about something.

"Well, I'll give the super midget this much," he grinned. "When she makes a move, she sure makes a move."

"A dangerous… rival," Shigure admitted, shaking her head slowly.

"You shouldn't call her that," Miu ignored the other Masters, turning instead to level a glare at Shinobu instead. "It's not her name, and even thinking about eating Kenichi-san's sister is…"

"Why should I care what her name is?" Shinobu interrupted, ignoring Miu's glare with what looked like long ease. "A morsel is a morsel," she continued, "and it is not like she is any sister of mine."

"You know," Sakaki began, giving the vampire a dry look as well. "I have a name too. Would it kill you to use it instead of that other one?"

"Oh?" Shinobu raised an eyebrow, a wicked leer appearing. "I see! Well, I suppose it would be no effort to do so, Sakakaki."

"Finally!" Sakaki cheered, before pausing. "Hey, didn't you add an extra 'ka' in there?" he pointed out suspiciously.

"I stuttered," Shinobu told him bluntly, and I felt amusement at the dream. That had always been Mayoi's favorite little dig. I found myself wondering what ever happened to the little ghost. I hadn't seen much of her, after the rest died. She just suddenly stopped appearing back then. I had thought that it was because I had left the Nightworld, and hadn't bothered to look.

Maybe when I woke up, I could see about tracking her down, if she hadn't moved on by now…

"Still," Akisame spoke up, caution in his tone. "Though you have agreed to refrain from killing while in this dojo," he continued, and I wondered when that had happened. My dream sure wasn't making sense. "It still makes those of the Katsujin Ken nervous when a vampire begins talking about people like food."

"Ka, ka, ka!" Shinobu laughed at the oblique warning Akisame was attempting to give. "Behold!" she declared proudly. "It has been nigh five years since the last time I have devoured one of you humans! Rejoice at my leniency!"

Akisame seemed relieved at the number, though he did grimace at the implication that before those five years had begun the young looking vampire had indeed killed. If he had any idea of the sheer number of deaths that could be attributed to Shinobu, I wonder just how he would react.

"What kind of vampire doesn't drink blood?" Miu pointed out, eyes still narrowed as she gave Shinobu a dirty look. I realized that pretty much every time in my dreams Miu interacted with Shinobu, the Disciple seemed unable to completely conceal distaste for the vampire.

"Who knows?" Shinobu shrugged casually. "Perhaps I am a vampire no longer?"

"Wait," Sakaki perked up, giving Shinobu a cautious look. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, Sakakakakaki," Shinobu began, and Sakaki scowled.

"Just 'Sakaki'," he snapped, and Shinobu gave him another leer.

"I bit my tongue," she told him, before dismissing the sputtering brawler. "And what I meant, is that it is possible that neither I nor my Master are vampires at all anymore."

"Oh?" Akisame perked up at that, definitely looking interested in the bomb that Shinobu had just dropped. The rest of the room also seemed surprised, but it was the jujitsu user that pressed. "And what do you mean by that, Hearts Under Blades-san?"

"What my Master did was unheard of, when he denied himself humanity," Shinobu shrugged again, leaning back as she began to fire her game back up. Shigure perked a second later, and began hitting buttons again too. "Though many Subordinates have tried, they either fail and die at their Master's hands, or they succeed and become human entirely once more. To stop at the last moment, to live as the two of us have," she shrugged again, "tis unheard of."

"Is that what Kenichi-san meant when he said the two of you were 'Kizumono'?" Miu spoke up, for once not looking hostile to the other vampire.

"Tis a dramatic title, but not entirely untrue," Shinobu admitted, looking more focused on the game than on the conversation. "Though it is not entirely true as well. Though we might be strange now, as Kai we are not unique. There are very few new Kai that have no roots in the older ones." Shinobu gave the girl a twisted little grin. "Though, that might have been the case before my Master resurrected me."

"And how does that change things?" Sakaki broke in, idly cracking open a new bottle and taking a contemplative sip.

"My Master went on to feed on others, enhancing his own powers, Sakakakakakaki," Shinobu continued, and Sakaki gave her an irritated glance as more 'ka's began to join his name. "And he did so in his only partial state. How might such power affect one that is mostly human? Or one who twas naught even a shadow at the time? We were strange enough before such a thing was added. And then my Master went on to change himself in so deviant a manner." Shinobu shrugged again. "At this point, it is possible my Master has more in common with a jubokko or a jinmenju."

"Ju-what now?" Sakaki muttered, obviously having no idea just what Shinobu was talking about.

"A jubokko is a tree that grows from a battlefield," Akisame's eyes narrowed as he took in what the vampire was inferring. "It drinks so much blood from the battlefield that it learns to drink from humans. They say if you cut it, blood comes out. The jinmenju is a tree which bears fruit with human faces on it."

"Yeah," Sakaki shuddered, remembering my time in the school no doubt. "Either of those would work just fine." He gave Shinobu a cautious look. "Than what about you then?"

"Well, more of a mononoke than an oni," she shrugged. If she no longer needed blood, then she would definitely lean towards a mononoke, the word for mischievous spirits of undetermined origin. Then she began to grin that ghastly little smile of hers. "Though I could be called a kubikajari, or even a hakutaku!"

"The kubikajari is a female spirit that eats corpses," Akisame's eyes narrowed, already explaining the myths to the rest of the room at large. Miiu shuddered slightly at the implication that the thing above her actually ate bodies. It made sense, in a way. Devouring the corpses was the traditional method vampires used to keep more of their kind from appearing. The only time they didn't eat the bodies was when they were making their victims a subordinate, like what happened to me. "As for the hakutaku," here Akisame seemed amused despite himself. "It was the legendary creature which appeared before the emperor of China and told him knowledge of all the demons and myths of the world."

"Ka, ka, ka!" Shinobu cackled again, no doubt referencing the way it was her being the one whom constantly explaining the Nightworld to the rest of Ryouzanpaku. "Does that answer your question, Sakakakakakaka…"

"That's it!" Sakaki finally snapped, growling as Shinobu began to reach ridiculous levels with his name. "It's Sakaki, you little vampire!"

I honestly had no idea what prompted him to do what he did next. In my dream I honestly thought that he had finally reached the point where he would do something as stupid as actually attacking Shinobu. Instead, the brawler leapt up, and rather than target Shinobu, he instead targeted the box next to her.

"My doughnuts!"Shinobu yelped, dropping her game console as she reached towards the brawler desperately. She didn't make it in time, and Sakaki took a savage bite from the purloined pastry.

"How do you like that?" he growled, voice distorted by the large bite.

"Why you…" Shinobu began to bristle, her hair starting to rustle around her. In my dream I felt worry. Shinobu wasn't the type to take an attack on her doughnuts laying down, and the very real concern that she would not only attack but seriously hurt Sakaki thrummed through me. "Take this!"

Shinobu leapt at the chewing Master, and my heart was in my throat for a moment. However, rather than attack Sakaki directly, she instead aimed to his side.

"Wait!" Sakaki seemed to realize what she was planning too late as the vampire latched onto two of his remaining six pack. With a pop of her thumb she knocked off the tops much like Sakaki opened his them. With a glare, she stuck both of the open bottles into her mouth and began chugging, eyes narrowed as Sakaki tried to stop her.

"I already spent all my beer money!" the Master shouted frantically around the doughnut he was still stuffing down his face. Even as he swiped for them, Shinobu dodged, drinking the beer so fast the levels in the bottles were visibly lowering.

Despite myself, even in my dream, I couldn't help but gawk. The very idea of Shinobu engaging in childish one-upmanship with a mortal was mind boggling. Yet here she was, still dodging as her and Sakaki fought over doughnuts and beer in front of the equally disturbed rest of the onlookers.

Except for Shigure. Instead, she just looked proud as her console began to beep.

"I… won," she declared.

Finally, with no other option, I let myself star to fall back into dreamless sleep. Obviously, this dream was just too ridiculous to continue watching.

Mid fight, Shinobu paused, and again she turned to stare at her shadow. Sakaki paused as well, apparently sensing a change in the mood.

"Oh?" the vampire muttered, spilling beer over her clothes casually. "Again? Well, I suppose it is still early."

With those words, I again submerged myself in the darkness of sleep.

*Scene Break*

More and more I found my slumber growing restless. More and more, the dreams were coming to me. As my consciousness became more common, I found myself sleepily wondering on the dreams. They were so common, so cohesive, that I began to suspect that they weren't dreams at all. Still, even though I watched them, I still found myself unable to keep from slipping back into sleep after each one.

Still, there were some of the dreams which stood out more than others.

One of them, for reasons which had absolutely nothing to do with me being a teenage boy, involved the hot spring of Ryouzanpaku.

Seriously. Nothing to do with hormones. No matter how much Ma and I had tried to peek, this dream had absolutely no etchi connotations.

Even if it did have Shigure, Shinobu, and Miu naked in it.

Anyway, on with what happened in the dream.

The three were lounging in the hot spring. Apparently, Shinobu and Shigure had both been there for a bit and had already finished their washing and were busy soaking. Shigure was kneeling, placidly resting most of her body in the warm water, while Shinobu was laying back, idly kicking her legs as she floated. Miu on the other hand was still sitting at the edge, dousing herself with a bucket of water and cleaning away some suds.

It was the type of sight that Ma would kill for, but even in my slumber I could tell there was something wrong here.

It was Miu and Shigure for the most part that gave away the tension. The fellow Disciple looked older now, more mature than I remembered her being. She had a few scars that I didn't recognize, not that I was too terribly familiar with her naked body in the first place, but these were pretty obvious. She held herself differently now, a kind of quiet tension that was apparent even when just bathing. But more than that, she had a particular tension this time. Her head was lowered, her wet hair falling down to conceal her eyes, but the corner of her lip was still visible, and it looked like she was gnawing on it.

Shigure also seemed unusually tense, though it was only my long practice with her that allowed me to tell. She was kneeling unusually straight as well, and though her expression was mostly unchanged, the way she kept her head from turning towards Miu was noticeable to one as skilled as Shigure watching as I.

I had no idea what the source of this strange tension was until Shinobu decided to speak with her usual blunt lack of concern for the feelings of others.

"So, fighter girl," Shinobu began, giving a pointed leer at the still washing blonde. "How was the date?"

It was obvious that the vampire had been aware of the landmine in her statement, and had triggered it deliberately from the way Miu tensed at the words and Shigure turned away a bit further.

"It was fine," Miu finally said, speaking in a low tone as she resumed washing slowly. "Takeda was a perfect gentleman."

"Ka, ka, ka," Shinobu gave her signature laugh, idly folding a towel so that she could rest it on her forehead. "How boring! Are you sure you wouldn't have preferred otherwise?"

Miu ignored the prodding from the vampire, but the pressure she was chewing on her lips with increased. Shigure shifted, giving the vampire a quick look that I could interpret as 'hostile' but beyond that she made no other move. Despite her lack of obvious reaction, Miu seemed to come to her own conclusion about the movement.

"Is there something you want to say, Shigure-san?" Miu prompted, sounding a little harsh as she did so. "Just like everyone else in the dojo?" she continued afterwards softly, a growl in her tone.

"N…o," Shigure simply shook her head. She even managed to split a word with just two letters. Despite what she said, Miu seemed to draw a bit more from the simple statement then I was able.

"Nothing to add about how he's all wrong for me?" Miu demanded, starting to scrub harder. "About how I should be patient? About how I'm just doing this to get back at the dojo?"

"Or how the dandy boy isn't my Master?" Shinobu added cheerfully to the list Miu was compiling, and again the reaction was instantaneous. Miu shifted, her eyes coming out from behind her hair and revealing a glare so cold it would have sent a chill down my spine if I was there in person. Shigure shifted as well, giving the vampire a blank look that I couldn't quite read. I think 'angry' was probably the best choice, but 'cautious' and 'agreement' also had a place there.

"So what if I'm going out with someone that isn't Kenichi?" Miu demanded, her pitch rising in anger as Shinobu apparently nailed the problem on the head. "Takeda is a good fighter and friend, and loyal, and…"

"And… here," Shigure interrupted in her usual way, and Miu flinched at the pointed words. She seemed to lose some of her steam, and slouched forward on her stool.

"And he's here," Miu agreed softly, before shaking her head and standing quickly. With jerky steps she joined the other two in the hot spring, sliding in and settling back on a rock opposite of Shinobu.

"Oh?" Shinobu continued to press, and I got the impression that she was having far too much fun riling up the other girl. "Oh, what a faithless harem," Shinobu continued, her lament obviously fake, "the Master is gone for a bit, and the members begin to wander! Ka, ka, ka!"

Miu glared at the vampire, some of her fire coming back, and I realized abruptly that Miu really didn't like Shinobu. It should have been obvious from some of the dreams, but maybe it was because of my dream consciousness being dimmed I had never made the connection. It wasn't just not liking the vampire either. Miu had genuine antipathy, honest distaste to the point of maybe even hatred.

That did not bode well for the future, I think.

"Kenichi-san does not have a harem!" Miu snapped, but even as she did Shigure spoke up as well.

"I'm not… wandering," Shigure pointed out, apparently taking Shinobu's dig about unfaithful harem members seriously. Miu turned to give an incredulous look at the Master.

"Shigure-san," she snapped, giving the weapon mistress a disappointed look. "You can't take that vampire seriously. Besides," she continued, bitterness in her tone, "it's been nearly two years. I doubt Kenichi-san is ever coming back."

"Oho?" Shinobu leered again. "Doubting my word? Tis a sorry way to treat a guest!"

"You aren't a guest," Miu growled, and again I was treated to the sight of Miu's fury. I'm not sure when it happened, but at some point Miu had definitely stopped being cute when she was angry. "Guests are welcome and invited. You're just some thing that showed up and never left. The only reason we put up with you at all is because of your hostage!" Miu was shouting now, and it seemed that her rant was something that she had been saving up for a long time. "Why are you even still here?" she continued, and I realized tears were starting to form at the corner of her eyes, a sign of her impotent rage. "Do you just stay around so you can torment us more!"

Miu looked like she was going to continue, but at some point Shinobu's expression had changed. I almost missed it, but the tell tale flash of light behind the vampire's eyes was the only warning before I realized that Shinobu was actually going to attack my fellow Disciple.

Fortunately, Miu seemed to see it too.

The attack was fast, the water of the hot spring frothing and whipping as a gouge was torn through it as something invisible and moving with great force launched itself at the other Disciple. Rather than be caught by it, Miu just moved as well, her hand whipping at speed that I don't think she was capable of the last time I was awake. The force met her hand, and then just as suddenly as it came it disappeared.

I had a moment to wonder what the hell had just happened, when I saw the glint on Miu's hand. Wrapped around her hand like a brass knuckle was a chain of silver. Positioned directly above her knuckles was a small cross of the same metal.

It looked like Miu had taken the time to get herself some protection. Probably a smart move if you were going to be deliberately pissing off a vampire.

"I stay, because my Master loves this place," Shinobu declared softly, her tone firm and unaffected by her thwarted attack. Miu had been prepping herself to move, no doubt anticipating a battle, though Shigure was still sitting calmly, the only affect the attack had on her the way the water was now whipping her hair around her as it settled.

"What?" Miu repeated, the unexpected statement interrupting her anger.

"It is no uncommon thing, for a Master and Subordinate to feel the other's will through their bond," Shinobu shrugged, again dropping casual information about the Nightworld that exorcists and specialists would kill for. "What the Master loves, the Subordinate too cannot help but have affection for. I do not call him my Master for trivial reasons. My Master loves this place, and so I cannot help but be fond of it too."

"And…" Miu seemed frozen, swallowing hard for a moment. "And me?" The anger in her tone was gone, and instead was a sort of helpless curiosity, a desperate need to know the words that we had agreed to wait to speak.

"Of course he loves you," Shinobu snorted, her eyes lidded as she glared at the other Disciple. "If he did not love you," she continued, "then I would have killed you years ago."

Shigure tensed at the casual statement, and it seemed that long exposure to the vampire had helped her understand that when Shinobu said something like that she was dead serious. Miu on the other hand didn't seem to hear the last ominous part of the statement. Instead she sniffed, before sagging to her knees, submerging most of herself in the hot spring. She brought her hands up to her face, covering her eyes as she continued to sniffle.

"Mi…u," Shigure hesitated, still giving Shinobu a cautious look, before concern for the girl she thought of as a sister won over. The quiet Master moved cautiously, putting one hand around the crying girl's shoulder. "It will be… alright."

"No it won't!" Miu snapped, her voice ragged from her tears. "I started college this year," Miu went on. "We had the entrance ceremony last week! And, and I was walking afterwards, through the cherry blossoms, and I couldn't help but think of him! He should have been there with me! We should have been walking together! But he's gone, and that's just one of the things we'll never get to do! Studying, going on class trips, graduating, going on dates… There are all these things I wanted to do together, and now since he wasn't here we never can! It's like…" she had trouble speaking, and had to swallow hard before she could continue. "It's like all those moments were robbed from us, and it's all HER fault!"

The glare Miu sent at Shinobu was positively venomous, but I had trouble focusing on it.

Miu was right, in a way. There was so much that I was going to miss out on, sleeping here in the shadows. There was no way of knowing how I'd be affected when I came out, either. Would I have aged here, in my sleep and in the dark? Would I wake up in a new body, one that was unfamiliar and strange, the marks of my missed years a constant sign of the things I have done?

Or maybe I wouldn't. With so much power in me since I had done my hunting, after having ventured so far from humanity, maybe I wouldn't have aged. Maybe I would come out just as I had went in, a teenage body unchanged whereas all my friends have grown and moved on. Just about everyone I knew at this point would have graduated from high school now. When I recovered, would I go back to school alone, having to watch from behind as they walked further and further away from where I stood?

I didn't know which one I preferred. I couldn't tell which option was worse.

And I didn't care.

I had said that I would tear apart my body and soul for Shinobu, and this was just one more price that I would have to pay. Whatever came next, I would deal with it with my head held high. I hadn't turned my back on the things that others turn from. She lived another day, and so too would I.

"Oh? Is that all?" Shinobu didn't seem to care about Miu's threatening posture. Honestly, I wasn't sure if she should be concerned or not.

On one hand, Miu had obviously taken steps to prepare herself if she ever had to fight the vampire. She was also a powerful fighter, the descendent of a long line of eugenics which had been dedicated to superior and powerful fighters. She was also trained by some of the greatest Martial Artists of the time. It had been two years more at this point. For all I knew, Miu had advanced beyond the title of just 'Disciple' at this point. More than that, Shinobu was still weakened from what she had once been. Even in her apparently more powerful form, she was still incomplete.

On the other hand, Shinobu had been fighting for centuries. Even if she trained for just one month of the year, that would still mean she had years of training behind her with her centuries taken into account. She had been fighting for her life most of those centuries too, and even diminished her power was above that of a normal human, even a normal vampire or Kai. She was a powerful, dangerous creature, something which even the gods feared after all.

Gods, I hoped the two never came to genuine blows. I'm not sure what would happen if they did.

"Is that all?" Miu repeated, swallowing back her tears as she gave a watery glare at the vampire. "What do you mean by that?"

"Oh?" Shinobu's smile turned vicious. "Doest thou really believe that things will be so simple, even when my Master finally awakens?" She stretched, casually flicking her toes through the water as though she didn't have a care in the world. "If thou think thy disappointment will end then, then thou are ill prepared for the future."

"What are you getting at, vampire?" Miu snapped, probably realizing that Shinobu was baiting her, but not able to resist anyway.

"My Master is not human," Shinobu told her bluntly. "He is one who was once a vampire and became something else. His body will reject all marks on it, be those marks wounds, or sickness," Shinobu's grin was sharp, "or even time itself."

"What?" Miu gasped, apparently understanding what Miu was saying, but not able to believe it.

"Indeed," Shinobu put her hands behind her head, leering at Miu. "As time passes, as thy body grows older and infirm, my Master will remain unchanging. He is of my bloodline, after all, and even diminished his body's recovery is unmatched in the world of the Kai. Even before, when he was far closer to human, it was a concern that he would remain unchanging. Now, now that he has come even further to the Nightworld, it is near guaranteed. Who knows how long his life will last now? A century, two, perhaps a dozen?" Shinobu threw her head back, cackling again. "Ka, ka, ka! Oh, what an exciting thought!"

"Why are you so happy about this?" Miu demanded, closing her eyes as tears of impotent fury made their appearance once more. "Are you trying to steal him yourself?"

"Another… rival?" Shigure muttered softly, the swordswoman still supporting Miu but paying close attention anyway.

"I have already propositioned him," Shinobu shrugged. "I was rejected."

"Huh?" Miu froze, apparently not having expected her accusation to have any real truth at all, and shocked when she found it did.

"Tis a common tale," the vampire continued, unconcerned. "As a vampire, I have no desire for a slave, or a servant. I would not have made my Master my Subordinate if I did not desire his companionship. Still, in the end he rejected me, striking me down and stealing my mantle. Still, tis an interesting turn of events, and even if it is not I who is the Master, I still have a companion to walk beside." Her grin turned slightly contemplative, a satisfied expression. "Tis an interesting enough turn of events for me to continue on."

I don't think Shigure or Miu understood that statement, but I did. It explained a lot, actually.

I had first met Shinobu when she was contemplating suicide. Vampires didn't tend to last longer than two centuries before boredom drove them to end their solitary existences. Shinobu was over five hundred when we met. Actually, she had once confessed to me her exact age, and to my surprise she was actually a whopping five hundred and ninety six at the time, though she adamantly refused from rounding up and continued to insist on just five hundred for her age.

Anyway, she was nearly three times the age of a normal vampire, and ready to end it when we had met. Afterwards, when we fought and I usurped the role of Master in our relationship, I had always wondered just why it was she was so willing to continue on, even so weak. Perhaps the reason she was so willing to continue on was because she was weak. If variety and excitement was the key to continuing on as a vampire, than this situation was probably new and unexpected, a fresh lease on life for the aged vampire.

Miu seemed to have no idea how to respond to the revelations that Shinobu had granted her. She was chewing on her lips again, frustration obvious as she gripped her knees so hard her knuckles were white. Shinobu had probably told her this deliberately in an attempt to hurt her. Just because Shinobu wouldn't kill them for my sake, there was no way she was going to lie down and take any attacks on herself without a counter strike either.

"I'm still… going after him."

It was Shigure who interrupted the mental battle between Shinobu and Miu, and the two paused as the weapon mistress interrupted. Miu gave the older woman who was still in the process of comforting her a sideways look, her lips between her teeth again. I had no idea what sort of compromise or decision those two had come to in the years since Shigure confessed, or even if they ever made a decision at all. Whatever the case, Miu seemed uncertain how to react when the Master admitted that she hadn't given up her pursuit of me. Shinobu on the other hand just cocked her head, curiosity obvious in her expression.

"Oh?" the vampire hummed. "Even knowing that he might never return thy affection, that he will not change even if thou spend thy lives together?" Shinobu's grin turned lecherous. "Even if it means that thou must deal with me?"

"I love… Kenichi," Shigure repeated, giving the vampire a blank look. "Why should something like time… or species matter?" The vampire blinked at the statement, obvious not having expected Shigure to dismiss the concerns entirely. "Be…sides," Shigure continued, and I was certain that a blush was starting to form high on her cheeks. "If he never changes it means… he'll always be hot."

"Shigure-san!" Miu yelped, also starting to blush at the swordswoman's words. Shigure gave the Disciple a blank look, one which Miu was apparently able to interpret. "Well, he is cute…" Miu admitted, the blush only growing.

Shinobu also seemed at a loss for words. Finally, she threw back her head for one last ghoulish cackle. "Ka, ka, ka,! Thou, kuudere! Art thou sure thou art human?"

I could understand Shinobu's amusement. What Shigure had said was such a blunt, statement, so obvious, that it sounded like something one of the Kai would say. That Shigure's though process had reached the same conclusion as a Kai said a lot about her ability to live in the Nightworld.

Still, even as the tension in the bath began to relax, I felt the inevitable pull of sleep coming back to me. Even as I did so, I watched as Shinobu tensed, sitting up straight with a splash of water. Again, as it happened on occasion in the past, her eyes locked directly on me before drifting to her shadow.

"Again?" she muttered, grinning as she did so. Shigure and Miu gave each other startled looks, not understanding the sudden change in the vampire. "Now thou art just being lazy! Ka, ka, ka,!" she laughed, grinning over at the other two. "Well, at least thou has received some service, my perverted Master!"

"Wait," Miu suddenly seemed nervous, hands coming up to cover her chest as she continued to blush. "Are you saying he's…."

That was as far as she got before I finished falling out of the dream.

See. Definitely not a perverted dream.

Even if they were naked.

And Shigure and Miu were hugging…

My sleep felt a lot less calm after that dream.

*Scene Break*

I woke up.

I wasn't even certain that I had at first. I was some place dark, someplace comfortable and warm. For a moment I wondered if this was another of the dreams, until I realized that my thoughts were too quick, that instead of being some distant observer it was through my own eyes that I was watching the dim world around me.

I had a moment to wonder just where I was, before I remembered Shinobu's shadow. Then, I had a moment to wonder how I was going to get out before I realized that I already knew that as well.

Like a swimmer escaping a pool, I left the murk.

"Oh?" Shinobu greeted me with a grin. "Finally awake, Master?" The vampire was standing, hands on her hips as she gave me a leer. I'm not sure if she had known I was waking up, or if I had just caught her at the right moment, but her shadow was stretched in front of her so that it rose high up onto the wall.

I pulled free, emerging headfirst from the upper portion of the shadow. It left me a bit above the ground, and I caught myself with a summersault so that I landed on my feet.

"I feel," I began, standing slowly and taking stock of my body. "I feel good," I admitted with a bit of surprise. And I did.

I had always had lingering aches and pains, the result of the training my Masters at Ryouzanpaku put me through. It had made me stronger, and I had gotten used to it, but the pain was always there anyway. Now it was gone. More than that, the last few months before I had slept I had always been so tired, a result of the pressure I was putting myself under to accomplish my insane goals. I had almost forgotten what it was like not to be exhausted. Now, that exhaustion was gone.

"Thou appears to be recovered," Shinobu noted, studying me up and down casually. I followed her gaze, taking in the way my muscles and flesh had returned. The last time I had seen myself I had been wasted and ruined, but now I was once more returned to the shape Ryouzanpaku had carved me into.

I also realized I was naked. Again, it didn't seem to terribly important. Shinobu had used to bathe with me back in the day, after all. There was nothing here she hadn't seen before, and it didn't feel right to be shy in front of her,

"I'm gonna need clothes," I noted, more as an afterthought. I wondered whether I still had some outfits left around here or if they had all been scrapped in my long sleep. Man, it would be useful to have that matter creation skill that Shinobu used whenever she drank my blood and became older.

And then I realized that I did know how to do it, and promptly created an outfit for myself out of thin air. I kept it simple, just a dougi, but still, it caught me by surprise just how easy it was.

"It seems thy instincts are far stronger now," Shinobu noted, and I nodded at her assessment. It made sense in a way. She had come back stronger and older than she used to be. After the things I had done to myself it should be no surprise that inhuman traits would be easier for me as well.

"At least I should be able to keep that under control around humans," I agreed with her. It was so easy to just slip back into our old roles. We hadn't had a real conversation in probably half a decade, but the moment we were both conscious and whole it was as though no time had passed.

"Oh?" Shinobu grinned, giving her cackle. "Ka, ka, ka! Not so easy as you think, Master," she declared, before creating a mirror and holding it up so that I could look into it.

I was still the same age as I had been before I had put myself in a coma, I noted immediately. For a second I wondered just what it was Shinobu was trying to show me, than I caught sight of my eyes.

"Oh dear," I muttered, taking in the bright, nearly luminescent red that lingered there. It wasn't throughout my whole eyes, rather just around the edges with small tendrils seeping towards my iris, but the color was definitely noticeable. "You think that's going to stick around?" I asked nervously, not sure how I'd go about explaining such an obvious trait.

"Who knows?" Shinobu dismissed the concern with a shrug, obviously not even caring. "Thou knows that thou owes me at least twenty kilograms of doughnuts, does thou not?" she continued, already making a play for more of her favorite food. "For forcing me to endure two years of the inane prattling of thy harem?"

"Hasn't Kushinada been keeping you supplied on those?" I grumbled, knowing that my wallet was going to take a hit pretty soon but not really that concerned about it. Shinobu showed no surprise at my knowing about the Miko's bribery, and simply grinned even larger.

"That is that, and this is this," she dismissed with a sniff. "Now," she continued, eying me while she licked her lips. "Tis time I took my own rest," she continued. "It has been too long since I've rested in my favorite bed."

Without another word, she leaned forward, putting her own hand on the wall in my shadow, and began to slip into it with ease. Still, her words made me curious.

"Wait," I began, causing Shinobu to pause and obediently look at me. "My shadow has a bed in it?"

"Ka, ka, ka! Of course!" Shinobu cackled. "I have taken liberties to make thy shadow most comfortable! Still," she paused giving the shadow a glare. "It has been some time since I've cleaned in there. Tis no doubt a sty by this point."

And just like that, while I was contemplating the necessity of spring cleaning my shadow, she was gone back to her usual place.

It felt like something that had been wrong for so long was finally right again.

"You're… back," the voice that came from above me caused me to jump and let loose a startled shriek reminiscent of a little girl. One hand came up to clutch my chest as I looked above me to find Shigure patiently perched on one of the rafter.

"Shigure-san!" I yelped, trying to calm myself down. I was a creature close to demonhood, a member of the Kai, and a rather accomplished martial arts, and I should not be surprised so easily. However, in my defense, it was Shigure. "How long were you there?"

"Since before… you came out," she told me bluntly, and I couldn't help but wonder at the tone of her voice. She sounded just a little off for some reason.

Then I saw the small grin, and the even smaller blush, and I felt like blushing myself.

"You saw me naked, didn't you," it wasn't a question, and I that blush started forming on its own.

"Of… course," Shigure admitted shamelessly, before she leaned forward. With a summersault of her own, she landed in front of me. She looked up at me, reminding me that she was still shorter than me, before she reached up to touch the corner of my eye gently. Her fingers lingered there for a second, and I felt my blush grow, before she finally nodded.

"Welcome… back," she told me, before surprising me by stepping up until she was chest to chest with me and putting her hands around my waist in a hug. Awkwardly, I lifted my hands to put them around her shoulders.

"It's good to be back," I gave the customary response, and then it didn't feel awkward at all. In fact, it felt good.

I was back. Finally, I was back!

We stayed like that for nearly a minute, and I had to sniffle a bit as the emotion of finally returning, of having done all that I have intended to do and still managed to return here, to my family and friends, brought tears to my eyes.

Then I paused.

"Shigure-san," I began nervously, looking down again to find the blank gaze looking up at me expectantly. "What are you doing?"

"Rubbing my chest… against you," she told me bluntly, and she squeezed again as she once more squashed her breasts against my chest. "It feels… good."

"Shigure-san!" I yelped, trying to free myself from the suddenly slightly perverted hold of my Master. She pouted, and gave me one last squeeze, before letting me go.

My earlier thoughts about the difficulties of having someone like Shigure loving me returned, and I couldn't help but swallow nervously. I had no idea what I was in for, and quite frankly it made me very nervous.

Still, after she separated Shigure seemed content to just stand near me, watching me expectantly. If it was anyone else, they would be demanding answers, asking questions, trying to find out anything they could about my return. Shigure though, she just stood patiently. She made no mention of my absence, or made any comment on her confession.

I smiled. It was such a Shigure reaction.

"Dinner must have gotten cold," I remarked idly, and she nodded once. "I guess we should go find the others," I finally ventured, and she nodded again. When she made no move towards the exit, I finally took the first step myself. She fell into step beside me easily.

Shinobu must have been able to tell I was waking up, because she had made sure I was in the sleeping area of the dojo. It was a brief walk through the hallway connecting the dorm and the dojo, and Shigure and I passed it in silence. It was only a minute before we found ourselves stepping into the dojo proper.

Most of the Masters of Ryouzanpaku had assembled, though they were hovering around the exit to the courtyard rather than in the dojo itself. Apachai and Akisame were hovering over a game of Go, the philosopher looking unusually intent as the gentle giant continued to display his childish prowess of the game. Ma was slouched near the Elder, the smaller man with a new porn book and the taller one sipping on some tea. Sakaki was also slouched, beer in hand as he looked out on the courtyard.

Outside, I could see my sister Hanako and Miu sparring. It looked like my sister really had started to walk the path of the Martial Artist, and I couldn't help but hope she found more peace there than I had. She looked older, no doubt firmly in the midst of a growing spurt as puberty made itself known to her. It made me wonder just how much Chikage had grown as well, and whether Kushinada's slightly ominous report about the secondary effects of the Kushinada immortality techniques were a bluff or some form of ominous foreshadowing.

And there was Miu.

She was older too, taller, looking more mature. She would be well into her first, maybe even starting her second, year of college at this point, and she looked it. She was as graceful and beautiful as ever, the girl, no, the woman who moved like an assassin.

I felt my heart twinge at the thought.

Just like she had said before, in my dreams, it felt like some part of my life had been robbed from me. What would it have been like, seeing her grow and being there with her? Just what had I missed in my coma? I didn't regret my actions, but I did mourn the loss of what could have been. I remembered the dream, and thought of walking through those cherry blossoms together.

I started as I felt Shigure reach out to take my hand gently. I glanced over, and found her giving me a soft, for her, look. I gave her a brief smile back, accepting her comfort.

"What the?" It was Sakaki's voice that brought me back to the present. I glanced up to find the brawler leaning out, giving the courtyard a strange look. "Oi, old man. What's up with your bonsai?"

"Oh?" The Elder began, before he paused. "What on earth?"

"Oh! Cherry blossoms!" Hanako had apparently seen the same thing which was gathering the rest of the dojo's attention. "Pretty!"

"What the?" Sakaki muttered again, before scowling. "If this is another freaking Kai, I swear, I'm gonna hit it so hard…"

It took me a moment to figure out what was happening. The Elder had a bonsai, though unlike the traditional method of raising one, he had gone a little overboard. Most bonsai were carefully cultured to remain small. The Elder once admitted that he liked to let his own little tree grow, and now the thing was nearly twenty feet tall. The fact that he still kept it in a potting bowl was ridiculous at this point.

And somehow, despite the impossibility of it, that very same bonsai had managed to sprout the blossoms of a completely different species, in the matter of moments, and was even now reigning down delicate pink blossoms on the courtyard out of season.

For a moment I wondered just why this strange event was happening, and then, just like with matter creation and shadow possession, I realized that I DID know why it was doing it. It felt my discomfort, and the well-meaning kid had tried to help in the only way it could.

Maybe Shinobu was on to something. I remembered from the dream how she mentioned that she wasn't certain either of us really counted as vampires anymore. I had never heard of a vampire that could influence plants like I apparently did. Maybe I really had become something new, or at the very least something different.

"Kenichi-san," Miu's voice pulled me back from my thoughts, and I glanced up to find that while the rest of Ryouzanpaku was still studying the Elder's bonsai, the blonde had frozen in the courtyard, and was staring directly at me. Her eyes were wide, and disbelief and relief warred on her face.

"You think the midget had something to do with this?" Sakaki muttered, misunderstanding Miu's words. "Think we should go find that little brat of a vampire?"

"Kenichi-san," Miu just repeated, before she blinked, and shook her head. When she looked back at me, her eyes were wet with budding tears, and a smile had grown on her face. "Kenichi-san!" she said one last time, her voice rising as she shook herself from her frozen state and charged me with speed which were a little frightening to contemplate.

"Whoa!" Sakaki just happened to have been in her way, and dodged hastily, nearly spilling his beer as he did so. "Just what are you- Midget!" he started in a scolding tone but ended in something like a yelp as he realized that I was standing right behind them. "You're up!"

"Oof!" I grunted, the only response I could give as Miu's tackle hug literally knocked me to the ground and sent the two of us skidding across the dojo to thump into one of the wall with what should have been bruising force. "Yo?" I gasped, not able to breathe properly .

As the rest of the Masters of Ryouzanpaku started to gather, each showing their joy at my return in their own way, I couldn't help but feel I was wrong earlier.

Now I was back.

I wasn't certain what the future would hold for me. Kushinada would no doubt have her plans, and Yami was still out there. Besides the Underworld, there was the Nightworld as well. In my present state, there was no doubt that I would have little chance to avoid the Kai forever either. I had no idea how my parents would react to me coming back unchanged after two years, or even what story they had been told to explain my absence. I had no idea what my friends had been up to, how things had changed with them. I had no idea how to deal with my own new and unexpected appearance and abilities, or what it would be like to have so many people know about Shinobu, the vampire that dwelt in my shadow.

And you know what? I didn't care.

Whatever would happen would happen, and I'd deal with it then.

For now, all that mattered was that I was back.

_Fin_


End file.
